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He was a man specialized in provoking others. To put it in a metaphor, he was like a weasel. You don’t get much by beating a weasel.

What’s Urgon’s true intention?

I don’t know. It’s highly likely that even the weasel-like External Affairs Manager doesn’t know.

The pretext of a banquet sounded plausible. But did they really invite us just for a banquet? No one but a fool would believe that.

They must have some ulterior motive.

Just off the top of my head, there were dozens of possibilities.

They could challenge us to a duel under the guise of exchange or try to humiliate us. They might want to show off Urgon’s prestige or step on Samael. Or maybe they’re just curious to see the Crazy Mage in person.

But I’m not afraid of such things.

Honestly, I wanted to go to the banquet. I was curious to see how entertaining it would be to watch everyone bragging about themselves. In my past life, I never had the chance to attend one. I was always stuck cleaning or dragged off on expeditions.

Pelleier used to attend banquets from various families all by himself. That disloyal Pelleier.

There’s a man here with a grudge against banquets. That’s me.

Anyway, the important thing is that we don’t know what will happen at the banquet.

Some might ask,

“How can you go if you don’t know?”

That’s exactly why I’m going. We’ll find out when we get there, won’t we?

Whatever it is, attending the banquet will reveal Urgon’s true intentions. The Crazy Mage doesn’t tolerate unanswered questions.

* * *

“When are we leaving?”

Kazen tilted his head and asked,

“Do you think it’s right to go?”

“Of course.”

After briefly expressing my intention to attend, I received the invitation from Kazen and checked the date.

Ten days from now.

It wasn’t a lot of time. Usually, for large banquets, many families would gather beforehand to build up the excitement.

“I’m so excited. Shall we leave today?”

“…”

Sensing a tense atmosphere, I looked around.

While everyone else seemed indifferent, two people had stiff expressions.

Blair said with a hardened face,

“Ruin, you don’t understand Urgon. It’s better not to go to the banquet. It won’t be good for our clan.”

“You’re such a scaredy-cat, Blair.”

I heard Taylor click his tongue.

“Still a youngster.”

“Is this revenge?”

“Anyone can talk tough. This isn’t something to be decided so easily. We need to consider what’s beneficial for Samael.”

Taylor looked at Kazen and said,

“Clan Head, Urgon is a dangerous clan. If we don’t attend the banquet, our superficial relationship might become strained for now, but if we attend out of fear, we might face even greater danger. We could end up falling into a trap.”

I, who had been listening silently, interjected,

“We should think about destroying the trap. Still a youngster.”

Taylor glared at me once, then continued.

“They’re insidious and more meticulous than you think, Clan Head.”

When Kazen didn’t respond, I offered a simple solution.

“I respect that. Then let’s each decide for ourselves. We don’t all have to go. Those who want to go, raise your hand.”

I said it casually, without much thought, but I was a bit surprised.

I thought I’d be the only one raising my hand, but unexpectedly, the woman named Arin also raised hers.

‘Is she also crazy about banquets?’

Looking around, it seemed the other guys were even more surprised than me. They looked as if they had been betrayed.

Kazen took charge of the situation.

“I think leaving today is too soon. Let’s take a few days to prepare and then depart.”

“Clan Head!”

Taylor, who hadn’t expected Kazen to decide to attend, involuntarily questioned him, but Kazen shook his head firmly.

“I understand your concerns. Urgon is a dangerous clan. But avoiding them won’t solve anything. If we avoid the wind, a greater cold wave will come.”

Kazen’s eyes deepened.

“I’ll need you to take on this difficult task.”

* * *

After the meeting, I gathered the Patrol at Donkey’s restaurant.

The restaurant was full, so we waited outside for a table to become available.

The leaders arrived one after another, forming a long line behind me like earthworms.

I was the first to enter the restaurant and sat in a meditative posture on an empty table. The leaders who followed me took the same posture beside me.

After a while, once all the leaders had gathered, I released my meditation posture and made eye contact with each of them, checking their auras.

It had been a while since I had properly checked them, although I had occasionally monitored them.

One member stood out.

“Brother, why are you looking at me like that?”

Daisy, exuding a sharpened aura, had already built a 4-star core. Her mana felt particularly dense. Even with a good cultivation manual, this level was impossible without individual talent.

As I continued to stare, Daisy suddenly pulled out a dagger from her waist and showed it off.

A faint heat haze shimmered above the blade.

Even a faint sword aura signified that she had mastered her 4-star core.

Without a proper teacher, this level of skill meant her talent was comparable to those in the expedition.

I judged that she wouldn’t be easily defeated even if she fought against the Crazy Mage Squad.

The other leaders had also built 2-star cores. Derek was the best, and One-Eye was also decent. It was almost the same as their previous hierarchy as gangsters.

Of course, it wasn’t so much that they had talent, but rather that they had been beaten up a lot by Daisy and me.

Some people grew stronger through hardship, and these guys were like that.

They had mostly shed their third-rate thug image. Gathered together, they looked like a decent group of mercenaries.

One curious thing was…

As I observed them, I could sense their auras becoming more refined.

“One-Eye.”

“Yes.”

“Have you been holding your sword with your left hand lately?”

“I’ve been practicing dual-wielding. But how did you…”

One-Eye’s surprised expression made me feel strange again. It was as if I had intuitively known.

‘Hmm.’

Well, it must mean I’ve grown that much.

Lost in thought, Daisy asked me with a somewhat serious expression,

“Why did you call us here? Did the Urgon guys say something?”

Donkey, who was coming out of the kitchen, answered instead.

“Your brother is going to the banquet.”

“Banquet?”

I looked at Donkey in surprise. How did he already know when the meeting had just ended?

Donkey replied with a smile,

“Palge came and told me. He ran out the back door in the middle of his meal when you arrived.”

“That Fatty is impressive in many ways.”

Donkey continued to bring out plates of stir-fried chicken.

“What’s the occasion today? Why is there so much stir-fried chicken?”

“We won’t be seeing each other for a while, so let’s have one whole chicken per person today.”

“Wow.”

The best chef is one who understands people’s hearts. As expected, Donkey had the potential to become the continent’s greatest chef.

* * *

Daisy took a sip of moonshine and asked,

“Won’t it be dangerous, Boss?”

I also took a sip and replied,

“Danger is what makes it fun. Do you want to go?”

“It might be fun if I go with you, Boss. But banquets aren’t really my thing. I’d rather have a sword fight.”

“What about you?”

One-Eye replied while eating stir-fried chicken,

“It sounds boring. Brawling is the best.”

It didn’t seem like there would be much fun in teasing my subordinates, so I got straight to the point.

“Military Advisor.”

“Yes.”

“Take care of Khaoto. Consult with Zion if anything happens. And if you have a bad feeling, report to the Clan Head and the elders immediately.”

“Understood.”

“Don’t take on any mercenary work for now, and stop escorting merchants. Focus on your own growth. Don’t get complacent. You’re still far from being good enough.”

“Understood.”

As we continued talking for a while, I suddenly noticed Bravo Khan’s eyebrows twitching.

“What’s wrong with your eyes, Military Advisor? Are you sick?”

“Ah, that… I haven’t been able to sleep lately because I’ve been gathering information about Urgon from everywhere.”

I clicked my tongue and said,

“You’ve been working hard, Military Advisor. Sleep is the most important thing at your age. Go get some rest. Next time, delegate some tasks to your subordinates.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as Bravo Khan left the restaurant, another customer entered as if on cue. They must have been waiting outside because the restaurant was full.

My subordinates glanced at the customer involuntarily, and I recognized her face.

‘Why is she here?’

The customer looked around for an empty seat and naturally sat down at the spot Bravo Khan had been occupying. It happened to be right across from me.

Donkey, who spotted the customer, said,

“You’ve been coming here often lately. Shall I get you the spiciest one again today?”

“Yes. And I’ll have the stir-fried chicken too, please.”

I looked at the woman sitting across from me for a moment. She was Arin from the White Horse Squad. Come to think of it, I had rarely seen her speak.

‘Hmm.’

As the tables were grouped together, Arin naturally joined us. For some reason, she didn’t seem uncomfortable at all.

Of course, I wasn’t the type to care about such things, so it didn’t matter to me either.

“Daisy.”

“Yes, Brother.”

“Take care of the Military Advisor. He’s an old man with a lot of unnecessary worries. Ponytail and One-Eye are busy training, and Garlic and Grid are patrol leaders, so he must be quite lonely. If we leave him alone, he’s likely to get sick.”

“Got it. I’ll take care of it, Boss.”

I chatted with my subordinates, passing around drinks and eating stir-fried chicken. It had a spicy and savory taste that was hard to stop eating once you started.

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Will there be anything more delicious than this at the banquet?”

“Probably not.”

“You think so too? I have a feeling I’ll keep thinking about it.”

At that moment, Arin, who had been silently eating the stir-fried chicken, looked back and forth between my plate and hers and tilted her head.

“That’s strange.”

It felt like she was talking to me, so I responded,

“What is?”

“I’ve tried both ‘Big Brother Spicy’ and ‘Crazy Spicy,’ but this color is different.”

“This is Mala flavor.”

“What’s that?”

“You could call it a secret spicy flavor. Not everyone can handle it.”

“Can I try it?”

Before I could answer, Arin quickly grabbed a piece of Mala-flavored stir-fried chicken. She had a side like Palge.

“You’ll regret it.”

My subordinates and I smirked at the same time. We had seen countless people challenge the Mala flavor and end up in tears and snot.

“Wow. This is crazy good.”

It wasn’t the reaction we expected. Arin took one bite and then started devouring the Mala-flavored chicken like crazy.

“Huh?”

My subordinates stared at Arin as if she were a strange creature. Arin quickly emptied the plate, stuck out her tongue, which was numb from the spice, and said,

“This is it. This was it.”

“It’s not spicy?”

“It’s really delicious.”

One of the subordinates, seemingly acknowledging her, handed her a drink, and Arin gulped it down.

“Ah.”

I watched Arin drinking and felt a strange, inexplicable feeling.

As I was about to observe her more closely, Daisy asked with a curious expression,

“But why is it called Mala flavor?”

“I don’t know. The culinary master called it Mala flavor, so I assumed it was Mala flavor.”

Anyway, as long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered.

* * *

After drinking moonshine with my subordinates until late, I met with Kant for a brief chat and then returned to the clan.

Looking up at the sky from the manor, it was completely dark. The mountain nights were pitch black.

Instead of going to my quarters, I deliberately crossed the mountain ridge and headed deeper into Mount Khaoto.

“Huuuuuh.”

I let out a long sigh, and the smell of alcohol filled my nose.

I casually lit a fireball and strolled along the mountain ridge like a carefree wanderer, stopping in front of a rocky area overgrown with boulders.

“Ah, this is nice.”

Feeling a bit tipsy, the chill didn’t bother me, and it was just perfect. As they say, training while slightly drunk is the best kind of training.

I gently placed my hand on a small pebble rolling around in front of me and opened all the circles in my heart.

Whir—

All five circles rotated, drawing in the surrounding mana. Twice the amount of mana resonated compared to when I had four circles.

I converted all the mana into wind attribute and concentrated it in my right hand. Then, I cast a 5th-circle shock spell.

Just as the shockwave was about to hit the pebble,

I instantly reversed the rotation of the circles in my heart.

With a heart-wrenching pain, four circles resonated with the mana of the Yin dimension and pushed back the shockwave.

Boom—

The aftermath of the incantation sent shockwaves in all directions, creating a gust of wind.

I kept my eyes wide open and stared at the pebble.

There was no change in the pebble except for a few hairline cracks. It remained almost in its original shape.

“Phew.”

An unsatisfactory result.

But there were countless pebbles around, so there was no need to be disappointed. The important thing was to keep trying. I hadn’t had much success with circle conversion anyway.

I spent two days and nights secluded in the mountains, continuing to torment the pebbles with my training.

On the morning of the second day,

Countless pebbles were scattered around me. Among them were some that had retained their original shape quite well.

* * *

After cleansing myself, I greeted Kazen and the elders early in the morning and then thoroughly teased the Crazy Mage Squad.

As I was heading down to the main gate, Zion approached me and handed me a pouch.

“What’s this?”

Zion looked at me with a serious expression.

“Being broke outside is the worst.”

I opened the pouch and saw it was filled with bills of exchange.

“I asked the Patrol’s general manager to exchange the gold bars for these. They’re well-known battlefield bills of exchange, so they’ll be accepted without any problems.”

As expected, Zion, who was also in charge of business, had a different way of thinking.

“The business manager is smart. But that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you. Make sure you break through to the 4th-circle while I’m gone. If you don’t, I’ll show you the true terror of the forehead slingshot.”

“Alright, alright. Just go and enjoy all the delicious food without getting intimidated. And if you see any knights, show them what you’re made of. Damn it, Commander.”

“I’ll be back.”

I took out one of the bills of exchange, handed it to Zion, and headed down to the main gate.

The White Horse Squad members were already waiting there.

Forgetting my past memories, I waved and greeted them.

“I see you changed your mind about not going?”

“Don’t play games with me.”

Taylor glared at me and said,

“This isn’t the time for us to fight amongst ourselves.”

“Good point. But why the long face?”

His expression was a bit stiff for someone who said they shouldn’t fight amongst themselves.

“This is my usual expression. Now that the decision has been made, we need to work together.”

I smirked and looked at the three of them, replying,

“You’re right.”

“Don’t act rashly when we get there. Consult with me before taking any action.”

I interrupted Taylor and replied,

“Consultation is good. But as you heard from the Clan Head, I’m the decision-maker. Remember that.”

I didn’t miss the slight frown that appeared on Taylor’s face.

“Your face looks strange.”

“This is my usual expression.”

“I don’t think so.”

“It is.”

“Are you sulking?”

“Shut up.”

“You say you want to work together, but you tell me to shut up. You lack mental discipline. Still a youngster.”

“…”

“Let’s go. We’re going to be late.”

———