Chapter 62
Alferen’s eyes were suddenly sparkling, as if he’d been waiting for those exact words.
“Really?”
“Yes. After all this, even Julia won’t have anything more to say.”
Alferen shot a cold glance toward the Genus booth.
From his expression, it was clear he’d been dragged here after some run-in with Julia.
Feeling a sense of shared suffering, I had no reason to turn down his offer.
I took his hand and said,
“I’m all for escaping, but in that outfit, you wouldn’t make it a hundred meters without getting caught.”
“Is that so?”
“Right now, Brother, you’d stand out even from the booths at the far end.”
Meaning his face and attire were as flamboyant as a peacock in full courtship display.
After a moment of thoughtful consideration, Alferen broke into a grin.
“If that’s the problem, it’s easily fixed.”
* * *
And Alferen’s claim that it was no problem turned out to be true.
There I was, walking hand-in-hand with Alferen, who was now stuffed into a plump bear costume.
To anyone looking, we appeared to be promoters handing out posters for a booth.
His conclusion after I’d said we needed to hide our faces.
I stared blankly at the bear’s vacant expression and asked hesitantly,
“Aren’t you hot in there?”
“Sometimes I think you forget I’m not an ordinary person, Delly.”
Ah, right. This brother of mine is a wizard.
And the master of the magic tower, no less—so something like temperature-regulating magic would be child’s play, even in his sleep.
“Still, like this, I can’t tell if I’m on a date with a bear or with Alferen.”
“Sorry.”
Just ten minutes earlier, he’d tried walking around with his face uncovered as a test and ended up being chased by the Lilith club members.
“How about we just leave the venue entirely?”
“No way. This is my first club event—I’m curious.”
It was a plausible excuse, but in truth, I was standing guard in case Magia caused an incident.
Thanks to that, Alferen—now in the bear suit—was being bombarded with starry-eyed stares from passing children.
Just then, when his eyes met one child’s, Alferen conjured a balloon out of thin air and handed it over.
“Wow!”
The astonished child took the balloon and gazed at the bear.
“It’s a bear magician!”
They probably thought it was a sleight-of-hand trick.
At the child’s shout, the surrounding kids began approaching one by one, their faces full of curiosity.
What was the point of the bear costume? He was still drawing all the attention.
It was right as Alferen, suddenly surrounded by children, looked at me in a panic.
Boom—!
An enormous explosion rang out, and smoke billowed up from one side of the venue.
The moment I realized it was coming from the area where Magia and Genus had their booths.
“Ren, Brother!”
At my alarmed cry, Alferen pushed through the children and scooped me up in his arms.
As he started running, the kids followed after us like they were chasing the Pied Piper.
“Wow, it’s the bear magician and the princess! The magician is kidnapping the princess!”
That’s how it must have looked through their innocent eyes.
At this rate, we were openly leading a parade of onlookers.
“Do something about them!”
At my shout, Alferen glanced back, and suddenly soap bubbles began floating up.
“Wow, soap bubbles!”
Leaving the children instantly distracted by the bubbles behind, Alferen dashed toward the booths.
* * *
Twenty minutes before the commotion.
Edwin, who’d been dragged back to the booth by Sierra grabbing his collar, found a man resembling a toad plopping down in front of him.
To Edwin—who’d been idly sitting there after his earlier antics had scared off the entire line—this was nothing short of an unwelcome intruder.
Edwin barely glanced at the customer and continued chewing noisily on a leaf.
His attitude was blatantly rude, but the man paid it no mind and pushed forward a container holding a chameleon.
He kept glancing around suspiciously—an obviously shady customer.
Edwin straightened up and said,
“So, what do you want to ask?”
The man twitched his eyebrows, clearly annoyed at being addressed so casually by a stranger.
“Tell it to reveal where it hid the egg.”
“The egg?”
“It laid an egg and hid it. If we leave it like that, it might die.”
On the surface, it sounded like concern for the chameleon’s offspring, but Edwin knew better.
The man in front of him was not the chameleon’s owner.
There was one clear reason for that certainty.
[Please get me out of here… I beg you… That guy locked me up and separated me from my egg! Now he’s trying to steal it!]
The chameleon had been pleading with Edwin, staring at him desperately.
Touching the container confirmed it.
This was a cage designed to restrain magical creatures.
Which meant the thing inside was…
“Ha, do you even know where you are, pulling this kind of stunt?”
Edwin’s eyes turned icy.
Magical creatures were extremely rare, occasionally hatching in regions rich with natural mana.
If discovered by the magic tower first, they were fortunate, but most were found by illegal traders, stripped of their habitats, and reduced to prized possessions.
Being so sensitive and demanding, they rarely survived more than three years.
This chameleon hadn’t been captured long—its condition wasn’t too bad yet.
Edwin had heard there were types who collected unregistered magical creatures and sold them at high prices.
How could he dare boldly show up at Magia and try to take the egg!
They must have thought a new club would be an easy mark—no repercussions, quick results.
The magic to hear the voices of plants and animals was highly inefficient, so few wizards bothered learning it.
Edwin had only learned it out of love for magical flora and fauna.
And this guy had the nerve.
As Edwin’s aura grew ferocious, Glaster, who was nearby, asked,
“What’s wrong, Edwin?”
“I can’t hold back.”
Edwin clenched his fists and growled as if he might punch the customer any second.
Sensing the danger, Glaster grabbed him around the waist.
“Y-you can’t do that to a customer!”
A brave act, mustered with all his courage.
Suddenly, Edwin thrust the chameleon container toward the trembling but valiant Glaster.
“This is…”
Glaster’s confused expression hardened the moment he checked the contents.
“You’re right. That’s no customer.”
Edwin pointed accusingly at the man and looked down at Glaster.
“You’re still going to stop me?”
Uncharacteristically, he was asking permission.
Probably out of courtesy since it was an official Magia event.
If Sierra had been told, she would have insisted they hold back.
Logically, if the man were truly an illegal tamer, he wouldn’t leisurely search for eggs in a place like this.
But when it came to abused magical creatures, rational judgment was difficult for these two wizards who lost all restraint.
“Edwin, is that even a question?”
Glaster muttered under his breath and slowly rose from his seat.
He was generally timid, terribly shy, and his voice shook when attention was on him.
But there were moments when even he went berserk.
Precisely when he saw magical creatures being mistreated.
Sierra, seeing Glaster suddenly stand, spoke to him.
“Why? Taking a break?”
Unaware that this was the perfect chance to stop them.
Moments later, Glaster hugged the container to his chest and pointed fiercely at the man.
“Stop him? Like hell! Go, guardian hound of Magia! Beat that criminal bastard to a pulp! Erase every trace of him from this world!”
Snorting like a fire-breathing dragon, Glaster roared.
At the bloodthirsty command, Edwin grinned widely.
“Roger.”
In an instant, he fired a spell at the back of the man’s head as he tried to flee after sensing danger.
Too late, Sierra clutched her face and wailed,
“You crazy idiots!”
* * *
By the time I arrived, Sierra was bowing deeply to the security officers who’d rushed over after hearing the commotion.
“I’m truly so sorry.”
Behind her stood Glaster, stubbornly clutching a container protectively, and Edwin, restrained in magical cuffs and yelling furiously.
And one charred lump that looked dead at first glance but was still breathing, coughing as it was supported by the officers.
