MCBD 11

Chapter 11

“What is this?”

I stood in the shopping district of Shadow Street, filled with doubt.

“Why did everyone disappear?”

When the stabilizer mage was discovered, the knights had clearly been overjoyed.

And yet, after receiving some sudden summons, they had vanished one by one.

“You can w-wait here for a bit.”

“Then we’ll be off!”

What is this situation?

After Sir Rend—who had nearly gone berserk—was carried away on a stretcher, I was left alone on Shadow Street.

Out of the hundreds of scenarios I’d imagined, this wasn’t one of them.

While I stood alone in the silent street, unable to do anything—

Plop.

A drop of water fell onto my face.

“Huh? What is this?”

I looked up at the sky and groaned softly.

“I’m doomed…”

I ducked under a shop’s eaves to avoid the rain and tried to think positively.

It’s fine. I’ll be fine. Why?

“Because I have a raincoat.”

I pulled a yellow raincoat out of my bag and roughly pulled it over my head.

Knowing that Shadow Street often had tropical downpours, I’d brought it just in case.

(Thinking about coming to Shadow Street reminded me of that little guy Bbu-bbu wearing a raincoat, so I’d packed it without thinking.)

Anyway, I was satisfied that it was finally getting some use.

“Do I really have to keep waiting here…? I thought they’d scout me right away. What kind of people treat their benefactor like this?”

I was grumbling while staring absentmindedly beyond the eaves—

When suddenly, someone appeared right beside me.

Truly, suddenly—bam. As if he’d used some kind of magic!

A chill ran down my spine. Rubbing my arms to soothe the goosebumps, I glanced sideways—

And saw a man who was tall, broad, with sharply slanted eyes and an overwhelmingly frightening presence.

Aldehid. It was him.

From a distance, I hadn’t realized he looked this fierce. Up close, he practically radiated killing intent.

“Uh…”

Whether or not a sound slipped from my startled lips, his gaze settled heavily on me.

“Hello?”

When you suddenly encounter a suspicious stranger, greeting them politely is probably the safest move.

As violet eyes stared at me intently, I found myself genuinely impressed.

He’s handsome. I almost had a heart attack.

I’d seen Aldehid a few times before, but never this close.

Anyone would admire his looks—but his half-unhinged expression made him terrifying instead.

“Do you… need something?”

Aldehid looked at the woman in front of him.

Seeing her bright yellow raincoat, he closed his eyes and opened them again.

There was no proof at all that she was noona. Nothing but a vague sensation—no clues whatsoever.

And yet, he decided of his own accord.

He would meet her.

“Hello.”

“…You’re Aldehid-nim, right? But why did you suddenly appear here…?”

She swallowed and stared at him.

As two people with completely different thoughts locked eyes—

Drizzle fell from the sky once more.

Aldehid stared at the woman. Over the image of the woman in the yellow raincoat, someone else slowly overlapped—

Then—

Stopped.

He unconsciously touched his wrist.

That something—presumably a mark—never appeared. His wrist didn’t redden or heat up either.

He believed that since he had been imprinted with noona, if they met again, a mark would appear on his wrist. That was the symptom imprint partners experienced upon meeting.

Which meant the probability that the woman before him was noona was low.

Then why—

Why did his breath feel tight the moment he faced her?

When Aldehid remained silent and only stared, she smiled and spoke.

“My name is Lirier Simon. It’s nice to meet you.”

Within their tangled gazes, their first probing of each other began.

Aldehid leaned down toward Lirier’s ear. As his damp breath brushed the fine hairs there, he spoke slowly.

“I’m Aldehid. I want to repay the debt of saving my subordinate. Is there anything you want?”

She stared straight at Aldehid and answered firmly.

“Ah! I want a job. The job market is really bad these days.”

“…A job?”

“Yes. Could I get hired as a stabilizer mage for the knight order?”

“…A job?”

“Yes. This is a formal request for employment. I’ll submit my résumé. Please let me in—nepotism hire!”

Their gazes collided head-on.

The corner of Aldehid’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.

She was a rare, interesting person.

Bang!

With a loud crash, the door to the Imperial Knight Order Commander’s office burst open.

It was Paul, the vice-commander of the Imperial Knights.

“Aldehid-nim! I heard Sir Rend went berserk! This is insane—!”

“Your intel’s slow. Are you being bullied in the knight order?”

“W-what? N-no.”

“Enough. Hand over the documents you’re holding.”

“Ugh, but why did you suddenly tell me to bring a stabilizer mage’s résumé—”

Taking Lirier’s résumé and the evaluator’s comments from Paul, Aldehid narrowed his eyes.

Lirier Simon
Age: 20
Graduate of a Lower Academy
Commoner from Shadow Street
Recently advanced to mid-level as a Stabilizer Mage

Ten years ago, noona had been clearly more than two hand-spans taller than him.

So he’d assumed she was at least five to ten years older than himself. Even now, that logic still seemed sound.

She’d also had the means to sponsor an orphanage—meaning she was either a noble or a wealthy merchant.

And after the day of the play, she’d never been seen in Shadow Street again, so she likely lived elsewhere.

Lirier contradicted every known detail about the noona he remembered.

Then… should he stop observing her?

“Should I follow solid logic, or uncertain intuition?”

Resting one arm on the table and propping his chin up in a rough posture, Aldehid raised an eyebrow.

As he stared at the résumé in thought, Paul—who had reached his limit—muttered,

“So what about Rend? What happened to him?”

“The woman in those papers saved him. He’s in the hospital now.”

“H-ha…! The savior of my best friend—my lifelong benefactor! What does she want? I want to give her everything!”

“She asked to be hired.”

“Ohhh! Then hire her into the knight order immediately! Title: Vice-Commander—no, even Commander would be fin—”

Aldehid shot Paul a cold look.

“Get out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then get out—no, leave. You’ll bring bad luck.”

“Your words are polite, but they don’t sound nice at all.”

Ignoring Paul, Aldehid set the résumé down and pondered.

He would repay the debt. The question was how.

Maybe I should first observe her stabilizing magic carefully.

And see whether his body reacted—or not.

“When you’re stuck, the best thing to do is—”

“Would you like something sweet? Candy?”

“No.”

In the end, he decided to borrow wisdom from the god of fate.

He took a coin from his pocket and tossed it into the air.

Heads: noona.
Tails: another woman.

It was just a casual coin toss—but fate had always given him the right answer.

And the result—

“Huh.”

The coin landed perfectly—not on heads, not on tails, but on its edge.

Balanced there, impossibly.

An absurd coincidence.

Did that mean that, in the end, the decision belonged to Aldehid, a mere human?

If so—

After a brief silence, his eyes curved into a round smile.

The next morning.

To be honest—

Even if I’d stopped Sir Rend’s rampage, wasn’t this a bit much?

I stared ahead with a stunned expression.