TRPM 95

chapter 95

I acted as an ordinary middle school Aura Master as much as possible.

Being an Aura Master, I was far from ordinary, but I needed to act this way, thinking about the Oracle who would be watching us through the hidden cameras.

“I know the Oracle’s face, but…”

The Oracle doesn’t know who the artist is.

Probably only Yeha-eun, Yeon Mirae, Ji-hyeongman, and I were suspected of being connected to the artist, but the Oracle likely didn’t know the artist’s identity.

So, to hide the fact that I was the artist, I needed to play the part of an ordinary middle schooler.

“(Um… so…) Ahem! You’re Yeha-eun and Han Geon-woo, right?”

I wasn’t sure if my act was convincing, but Katie Hunt asked in awkward Korean.

Of course, she would know at least what our faces looked like.

“Yes.”
“That’s right.”

Yeha-eun and I nodded easily and replied.

At that moment, the main gate of the Ironblood Guild opened, and Yeon Mirae appeared.

“You’re here? And… (You’re Katie Hunt, right? You said you wanted to meet Yeha-eun and Geon-woo.)”

Yeon Mirae greeted us warmly and then asked Katie Hunt in English.

“(…Yes, that’s right.)”

Seeing Yeon Mirae speak, Katie Hunt replied cautiously.

Ah… so that’s why it was Yeon Mirae, not Ji-hyeongman, who came. Her reaction made it clear.

“If it had been just Ji-hyeongman, Katie Hunt would have looked down on him and ignored him.”

She might have even bullied him verbally. But Yeon Mirae was among the top Aura Masters. Clearly stronger than Katie Hunt, who was at the lower end even among Grand Wizards.

If someone like Yeon Mirae personally came out and offered to guide her, Katie Hunt wouldn’t dare act superior. Considering this, it made sense why Yeon Mirae had appeared.

“(….)”

Katie Hunt looked uncomfortable and avoided her gaze as much as possible.

“(….)”

Katie Hunt’s secretary—or rather, a woman who seemed to be one of the Oracle’s subordinates—quietly observed the situation.

Breaking the silence, Yeon Mirae spoke first.

“(So? Why did you want to meet our Yeha-eun and Geon-woo?)”
“(Huh?)”

Right. The official reason Katie Hunt came to Korea was to see us, the youngest Grand Wizard and youngest Aura Master.

So why did she want to see us?

“Yeon Mirae guessed that Katie Hunt came to beat Yeha-eun and gain a sense of superiority.”

But after hearing from Arthur that Katie Hunt might be connected to the Oracle, I found that hard to believe.

With Yeon Mirae standing firmly beside Yeha-eun, could such a thing really happen? No. It was more likely that the Oracle had ordered Katie Hunt to do something.

“Then… why is she here?”

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t something honorable. That’s why she couldn’t give a proper answer to Yeon Mirae’s light question.

Then…

“Katie came to meet the two of you… specifically Yeha-eun, to offer her some guidance as a Grand Wizard.”

It was one of the Oracle’s subordinates, acting as Katie Hunt’s secretary, who said this.

“Y-yes. Although Yeha-eun became a Grand Wizard, she learned from an Aura user, not a wizard. No matter how much of an Aura Master she is, I, as a Grand Wizard, can teach her a wider range of knowledge than an Aura user, right?”

Hearing that, Katie Hunt began explaining how she would teach Yeha-eun, as if that had been her plan all along. Of course, she was probably improvising.

‘Not bad…?’

It sounded plausible, even for something improvised. Even though she was low-tier, perhaps being a Grand Wizard gave her credibility. Or maybe because she was a movie actress, she had the charisma to pull it off. If I were someone who knew nothing, I might have been convinced by her words.

“I see…”

Yeon Mirae didn’t find any faults in her improvised teaching plan and remained silent.

However…

“Eh? I already know all of that.”

All eyes turned to Yeha-eun at her remark. The teaching plan might have seemed solid, but Yeha-eun had no reason to follow it.

Yes… Katie Hunt’s proposed magical education plan was solid. Even someone like Yeon Mirae, who had always topped her class in high school and academy, couldn’t find fault with it.

But that plan was based on ordinary wizards.

‘Yeha-eun has already mastered all of this.’

Yeha-eun was a Grand Wizard herself. Though limited to auxiliary magic, she was far superior to Katie Hunt in that area. Everything Katie Hunt claimed she would teach was something Yeha-eun could already do.

“…Ah! I can do all of that.”

Yeha-eun thought the focus on her was because she didn’t speak politely, not because she already knew everything.

“…Impossible! That kid can control mana with precise manipulation, parallel manipulation, and even amplify it through resonance?”

Katie Hunt said this in English, clearly shocked.

Of course. Even for a Grand Wizard, those techniques are difficult.

Actually, the more mana one has, the harder it is to control and resonate it. Most Grand Wizards give up on controlling mana and simply overwhelm opponents with sheer power.

In that sense, the fact that Yeha-eun had mastered these techniques perfectly…

‘As I’ve said before… she’s a genius.’

Simply put, she was a genius. I taught her, but it was Yeha-eun who perfected it.

“…Ahem…! Yeha-eun? Lying is bad, you know.”

Katie Hunt coughed, realizing her mistake, and said this to Yeha-eun. She probably didn’t believe her. Even though Yeha-eun had no reason to lie.

‘It must be unbelievable.’

For someone without talent like Katie, it was impossible to accept that a much younger child could control mana in ways that most Grand Wizards would abandon.

“It’s not a lie.”
“Hey!”

Yeha-eun spoke the truth, but Katie Hunt scolded her anyway. Yeha-eun looked frustrated, but Katie Hunt dismissed her expression as acting, convinced she was lying.

Tsk… That kid has only learned bad things at her age…

Wait… Yeha-eun’s raising a familiar that’s practically the worst choice for a wizard, right?

Judging by the contract, it seems she was told that the familiar was good… It would be best to find a way to cancel that contract…
“No!”

Yeha-eun shouted.

“Sarang is not trash!”

After shouting, tears welled up in her eyes as she clenched her teeth.

“!”
“!”

Seeing that, Yeon Mirae and I glared at Katie Hunt.

“Eh?!”
“Hey, you.”

When we were treating her as a guest, she should have been careful.

“She made the kid cry?”

And in front of us, no less?

“Ah, no… it’s not like that…!”

Katie Hunt stepped back as Yeon Mirae glared at her. Still, as a Grand Wizard, she shouted while facing our aura directly.

“…But…! Everything I said is true…!”

The child isn’t lying! Sarang isn’t just a seemingly good but worthless familiar!

“What did I say that’s wrong?!”

…That was only true in her mind.

“…Sarang is not trash!”

Yeha-eun finally exploded. She summoned Sarang and…

“Sarang!”

As if venting all her anger at Katie Hunt, she commanded.

“Bite!”

Sarang, in her small dog form, absorbed Yeha-eun’s aura and my internal energy, transforming back into her true form. Not a dog, but a legendary wolf. Penrir.

Grrr…
“(…Uh?)”
“(Wha….)”

Katie Hunt was shocked to see Sarang’s true form. Her secretary—or rather, the Oracle’s subordinate—was also astonished.

Of course. No familiar we had seen before had such overwhelming presence as Yeha-eun’s Sarang.

While the two were stunned…

Grrr!

Sarang opened her jaws and swallowed Katie Hunt.

“(What?!)”

The Oracle’s subordinate, monitoring Katie Hunt, watched helplessly. The Oracle, viewing the scene through the hidden camera in her body, stood up unconsciously.

“(Th-That wolf…!)”
“(Oracle? What’s wrong?)”

The Oracle’s subordinates were also surprised by the sudden appearance of the giant wolf. But that was all.

Through the Oracle’s prophecy, they knew that in the future, a wizard capable of controlling dragons would emerge.

So the Oracle’s extreme reaction was puzzling. Even though she made the prophecy, reacting this shocked by a familiar was strange.

“…Bring me the case files, now!”
“(Which case?)”
“(Last year. Location: Gyeongju, South Korea!)”

One of the Oracle’s subordinates searched for the event in Gyeongju.

“…Huh?”

He finally understood why the Oracle was so shocked.

“Wait… hold on…”

The mercenary massacre at a hotel in Gyeongju. Mercenaries planning to terrorize students, including Japanese shrine maidens on a school trip, were all killed. The witness was a Japanese shrine maiden.

Based on her testimony and the traces at the scene, rumors spread that a Grand Wizard controlling a giant wolf as a familiar lived in Gyeongju.

“Could it be…?”
“Was one of the schools visited on that trip the elementary school attended by Han Geon-woo and Yeha-eun?”
“…Confirmed.”

It was.

“(…)”

Hearing this, the Oracle reached a conclusion.

“(The owner of the wolf that massacred the mercenaries… was Yeha-eun.)”

And this suggested another possibility.

“(It’s known this year that Han Geon-woo and Yeha-eun are an Aura Master and a Grand Wizard, but… could they have already reached that level long before?)”

“(…)”

The Oracle grew fearful. Were the Artist and his allies, my enemies, a group made entirely of monsters?