Have Magic - Chapter 76



Only Noblemtl

Embrace the Magic (76)

Rodin erased the current map and spread the old map before his eyes. As expected. No matter how much he looked at it, there was no overlap with the current map.

‘Where is the map?’

The two terrains were not connected. If so, there would have been no need to save the map in two parts.

“hmm?”

I put the pocket watch away and looked at the kids. They were still pretending to be asleep, but I could tell they were awake.

“If you open your eyes, get up.”

Despite Rodin’s words, the children continued to keep their eyes closed. The girl moved a little, but did not open her eyes.

“If I’m late, I’ll have to eat breakfast alone.”

“Whoaam!”

“Ahhh!”

Only then did the children pretend to wake up. They must be hungry.

“Let’s eat.”

“yes.”

“thank you for this food.”

The soup, which had been continuously warmed, was divided into bowls.

The kids seemed a bit cautious yesterday, but today they ate the soup as soon as they got it.

Rodin also ate breakfast at the same pace as the children, so the time they finished eating was similar.

“Thank you, sir.”

“what?”

After the meal, the boy came forward to greet everyone. But his choice of words got on Rodin’s nerves.

“Uh…, thank…you…”

“Mister? You’re talking about me?”

“Oh, that’s not it.”

“See? I was right.”

They whispered something among themselves for a while. It seemed like they had discussed it among themselves beforehand and decided on a name for each other.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Oh, ma’am? Oh! My head. I’m not a ma’am!”

My voice got louder. I didn’t mean to, but I was so shocked that I just raised my voice.

“Yes? Uh… then.”

“I’m 14. I’m only 14!”

“Ah! Sister. I’m sorry.”

“Sister. I’m sorry.”

I don’t know why the title is so catchy. I changed it from “Ahjusshi” to “Unnie” a few times, but out of nowhere it became “Unnie” and “Noona”.

Of course, Rodin also knew that he was pretty. He had already been harassed by Headler, Rant, and Corey for quite some time at the training center because of his face.

He has a pretty face and a thin voice because his puberty hasn’t yet occurred. I thought he could be mistaken for a girl.

But thanks to the exercise I had been doing at the gym for quite some time, my body type was completely male.

He may look small next to monsters like Rant, but he was in great shape when he was with other swordsmen.

“Ha, I’m a man.”

Rodin had no choice but to completely remove the hood he was wearing. The face that had been barely visible was completely revealed.

“Huh? Sorry.”

“Huh? Why?”

This stupid question was from a girl. She was asking why I was a boy even though she was looking at my face.

“Because he’s a man, he’s a man.”

“She’s prettier than my mom.”

“But I’m still a man.”

“weird.”

The girl looked at him as if she still didn’t understand, but Rodin didn’t want to drag out this argument.

“Undine.”

Rodin used Undine to clean the dishes.

The children’s eyes widened at the sight of the dishes being cleaned in an instant.

“Let’s wash them too.”

Nod!

Undine sprinkled water on the children’s bodies. The water created from thin air moved around every corner of the children’s bodies and then disappeared.

The children’s appearances, which had been shabby, changed. Their skin became soft and their tangled hair became smooth.

“Okay, now it’s time to decide. But before that, do you see what I have here?”

“yes.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Money.”

In the direction Rodin pointed, there was a pile of money worth over 200 gold. It was the money taken from the looters yesterday.

“This is your money from now on.”

“why?”

“Because that’s what your family had. By the way, I asked you to think about it yesterday. What do you want to do? Should I take you to Lance? Or do you want to leave here? I’ll do whatever you want.”

Rodin pushed the money that was next to him to the children, signaling that they could take it and leave.

The children looked back and forth between Don and Rodin, seemingly struggling to decide which one to choose.

“I…….”

“Speak comfortably.”

“Can you please raise us? I’m good at cleaning. I’ll do the laundry if you tell me to. I’ll do anything you tell me to do.”

“I’ll do it all. Please raise me. I’ll eat only a little bit of food. I won’t make noise at night.”

Rodin closed his eyes tightly at the children’s conclusion.

I thought it was the best choice for the kids, but on the other hand, it was a choice I never wanted to make.

‘A child has to raise a child.’

I felt frustrated, but I couldn’t help it. If I left them behind, those kids would definitely be harmed by the adults.

“Are you guys siblings?”

“No. In the same neighborhood… ”

I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation very well, but the meaning was easy to understand.

The two families lived in the same neighborhood and fled together, so they were together when they were attacked by looters.

“How old are you? What’s your name?”

“My name is Larry. I’m 12 years old.”

“My name is Bianca. I am 10 years old.”

“oh my.”

When I found out their age, I was shocked. I was 14, and they were 12 and 10. They were only 2 and 4 years apart, but I had to be their guardian.

“I’ll do the laundry diligently. I’ll clean diligently.”

“Don’t throw it away. Bianca won’t eat much.”

“I didn’t say I was going to throw it away. You can eat as much as you want. I won’t ask you to clean or do laundry.”

“Really?”

“Can I eat a lot?”

The children took Rodin’s words as permission. Their expressions brightened in an instant.

“I’ll leave right away. I’ll keep the money for now. It’s 200 gold, so when you become adults, tell me and I’ll give you each 100 gold.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I decided to do that. Do you guys know how to ride a horse?”

“Oh, no.”

Of course, Larry, who answered, and Bianca, who did not answer, did not know how to ride a horse.

Rodin had no choice but to lift the children and place them on the horse. He lifted them one by one and held the reins.

“Aren’t you walking because of us?”

“Don’t worry. The words will come right away.”

“How?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

I held the reins and walked for about ten minutes. I was able to immediately find eight horses tied to a tree.

“uh?”

“Wow! That’s right.”

“That must be the horse the bastards who killed your family rode in on. I found it yesterday, but I just left it here.”

The number of horses was small compared to the number of raiders, because each horse was owned jointly by several people.

Rodin untied all the horses and tied them to his own horse. Then he took out one horse and climbed onto its back.

“Let’s go. Hold on tight so we don’t fall.”

“Are you going to run?”

“No. Magic Hand.”

Rodin held the children with his magic hands and rode slowly.

Although the pace was slow, the up-and-down vibration was quite loud. Larry and Bianca were thrown out of the horse several times.

Every time that happened, Magic Hand caught the children. The children would start to fuss whenever their bodies were lifted.

“Ugh, it’s falling.”

“Brother! Don’t fall! This is exciting!”

The journey suddenly became noisy. I was not used to this kind of noise, but I did not feel bad.

‘That’s what a child should be like.’

The movement was not fast. It was only about half of the usual speed because the speed was slowed down to prevent falling off the horse.

* * *

Because of the slow pace of travel, it took two days to reach Lens, and we arrived just before sunset.

There was a long line of soldiers conducting strict checks and waiting to enter the Rance. Rodin also stood at the back of the line with his children.

“It’s taking a long time.”

“Shall I get off the horse?”

“Just ride it.”

“My butt hurts.”

“Then come down.”

Larry and Bianca dismounted with Rodin’s help. They looked like children, looking around.

‘He’s a kid, after all.’

When Rodin looked at Larry and Bianca, he often thought, “What was I doing at that age?” Whenever he thought about that, all that came to mind were the library, the office, the cafeteria, and the classes.

‘Is Instructor Serion still alive?’

On the day I left the training camp, I saw Instructor Serion riding out of the training camp. If he hadn’t gone north, he would have escaped safely.

“Brother Rodin. I want to ride again.”

“Really? Why?”

“I can’t see it well.”

“Okay.”

I put Bianca back on the horse with my magic hand. Then Bianca lifted her head up and looked around.

“There are so many people. Larry, there are so many people. I can’t even handle them with both hands.”

“I…, hyung.”

Larry called out cautiously. I could tell what he wanted just by looking at his expression.

“Do you want to ride again?”

“Yes. Can’t you ride on another horse?”

“Okay.”

Larry also got on the horse right next to Bianca.

Now Rodin was managing nine horses on his own.

The fat and lazy horses they originally had, along with the eight horses ridden by the raiders.

It was a bit too much to manage alone.

‘It would have been difficult if I wasn’t a wizard.’

He was holding the reins by tying them together in groups of four with Magic Hand magic. People passing by looked at the reins and Rodin floating in the air as if they were amazed.

The line steadily shortened as Larry and Bianca enjoyed the view from their horseback rides.

Occasionally, a commotion would break out at the front, but security guards would quickly arrive and calm the situation.

“Aren’t you supposed to be unable to come in today?”

In a normal city, the gates are closed when the sun goes down. Naturally, the checkpoints are also stopped when the sun goes down.

The sun was slowly setting here in Lance. If things continued like this, it would be dark in ten minutes, but there were still dozens of people ahead of me.

‘Ah! That’s a relief.’

Fortunately, the number of people in line ahead of me decreased in an instant. The top man submitted his identity as a porter and mercenary and was searched.

Everyone on the list submitted by the top tier entered the room at once. The line was shortened significantly, and the number of people in front of them was reduced to less than ten.

‘Oh, again.’

This time it was the mercenaries. As expected, five people were searched at once and disappeared into the room.

Then soldiers came out from inside the checkpoint, counted the people in line, and cut them off at appropriate places.

“That’s it. Those behind me, please come tomorrow morning.”

“ah!”

“shit.”

“Just a few more.”

The people in line behind them expressed their regret, but the soldiers were calm. After finishing what they had to say, they brought a rope from somewhere and separated the front and the back.

Luckily, Rodin was right in front of the line drawn by the soldiers. He was able to pass the inspection today just in the nick of time.

‘But Larry and Bianca don’t need ID badges, right?’

By law, you could officially get an identification badge from the age of 10. According to the rules, both Larry and Bianca had to have an identification badge.

However, in reality, only those who lived in Yeongju Castle received their status badge at the age of 10.

Those who live in villages outside of Yeongju Castle receive their status badges when they are between 13 and 14 years old.

This is because the place where the identification cards are usually issued is in Yeongju.

‘Well, if it’s different, you can just use magic.’

Rodin tried to follow the law as much as possible, because he thought it would avoid problems later.

But if it seemed like it would cause immediate trouble, it was entirely possible to break the law.

Rodin was far from the type of person who couldn’t do anything because he was bound by the law.

“next!”

The line moved quickly and soon it was Rodin’s turn.

Rodin dismounted Larry and Bianca and stood beside them. The guard at the checkpoint held out his hand, and he placed his identification badge on it.

“Oh, a mercenary… Ah! You were a wizard?”

“yes.”

“Mercenary wizards are rare, huh? Don’t the children have identification badges?”

“Yes. Because I’m still young.”

After learning that he was a wizard, the soldier’s attitude became more polite. In Lance, wizards were also treated as a respected profession.

“I’ll let you pass for now. However, it would be best for you to receive your children’s ID cards as soon as possible. Even if you are young, Rance can find a small job if you have an ID card. Oh! Rance has its own ID card issuing agency, so go and check it out. You’ll see it if you go to the west plaza.”

“I see. I’ll go and check it out. But is there a place I can sell the horse? I just happened to get it.”

“It looks like there were some thieves who attacked the wizard. As soon as you enter, there is a market on the right. Go there.”

“Thank you. Okay.”

We passed the checkpoint. We put Larry and Bianca back on the horse and went into Lance.