Have Magic - Chapter 92



Only Noblemtl

Embrace the Magic (92)

It was three years ago that Margaret’s son Matthew suddenly collapsed. A gold mine was discovered in a certain area and a large-scale recruitment of miners was underway, and the son, lured by the generous salary, applied to become a miner.

And exactly two months later, my son was brought in unconscious.

He was breathing, but he didn’t respond to any external stimuli. He didn’t respond even when I called him desperately.

Many wizards examined the son. Since there were many victims besides the son, high-ranking wizards were dispatched from the magic tower. Even a so-called archmage examined the son’s body.

But nothing was found out. As the others, except for the son, regained consciousness one by one, the wizards who had been dispatched also returned.

So the son was neglected.

The Marquisate of Richmond did not pay a single penny for his treatment. They only told him some ridiculous story about a chronic illness.

At that time, a way to cure it opened up.

I was worried that I would be disappointed if I had high expectations. This had happened more than once or twice so far. I had been scammed about five or six times, so I was ready to give up.

But the wizard I met today was a little different.

I didn’t even ask for money in advance.

He seemed completely unburdened, even though he said he could definitely treat it. It was as if the treatment was something that was taken for granted.

So I had some expectations. I might be disappointed again, but I still wanted to have expectations.

‘Please, please.’

Margaret stared blankly at the entrance leading from the first floor to the basement. She had been standing there like a stone statue ever since she finished preparing lunch.

Step, step! Step, step!

Footsteps were heard. The door leading to the basement opened, and the owner of this house, a magician, appeared.

“Have you been waiting?”

“Oh, yes. My son?”

“Here it is.”

My son came flying into the air, still with his eyes closed.

Margaret sat down in disappointment.

“Ah! Failure….”

“No way. He’ll wake up in 30 minutes at the latest.”

Rodin stretched his body slightly, looked around, and walked slowly in the direction of the delicious smell.

Matthew, who was floating in the air, was also following Rodin.

Margaret hurriedly followed behind Rodin.

“Really? Is my son really going to wake up?”

“Yes, he will wake up soon. But how long has it been since your son lost consciousness?”

“It’s been three years. It’s been three years. Sob.”

“Hmm, it’s been a while. I’ll feed him some gruel first, and then start feeding him solid food after a month. It’ll take quite a while for his stamina to come back.”

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the prepared reception room for lunch. Bianca was waiting with a spoon in her hand.

“Rodin, brother! Hurry up, hurry up!”

“Shouldn’t you have eaten first?”

“No. Grandma Margaret said that you have to wait for Brother Rodin.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Rodin sat down on the chair and picked up his spoon naturally.

Matthew was still unconscious, so he was seated on one of the chairs. Margaret quickly approached him and examined his body.

Margaret put her hand under Matthew’s nose and listened to his chest.

It was definitely different than before.

It wasn’t a ragged, forced breathing sound. It was a soft, gentle breathing sound.

Margaret touched Matthew’s skin too. It no longer felt hot.

His body temperature had dropped and his breathing had become more even. He was no different from a normal person.

“ah!”

“Ugh.”

Then Matthew frowned. He opened his eyes with difficulty and looked around.

My neck was so weak that I could nod stiffly. My breathing was ragged and I couldn’t speak properly. Still, I forced myself to speak.

“Uh… ma.”

“Matthew, my son. Do you recognize your mother?”

“Uh, uh… ma. Where are you?”

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry, Mom. Don’t cry anymore. My son.”

It was a touching reunion between mother and son after three years.

Bianca put down her spoon and started to shed tears.

On the other hand, Rodin silently focused on eating. His expression did not change at all.

After finishing his meal, Rodin put down his spoon and called Margaret in a small voice.

“Margaret.”

“Yes, wizard.”

“Let’s make it 40 gold per month including your son. When your son’s health recovers a bit, then I will adjust the salary.”

Margaret’s salary was set at 25 gold per month, and Matthew’s salary was set at 15 gold. Later, after seeing how they worked, I planned to raise it to 50 gold.

“Well, is that okay? My son is a good and honest son, but he won’t be of any help right now.”

“That’s not possible. It’s a place where only children live. Just having an adult there helps.”

It wasn’t just talk. Children learn a lot just by spending time with adults and talking to them.

Especially for Bianca, who was just learning about the world, the presence of adults was especially important.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“And the title of Wizard is burdensome. Please call me by another title. My name is Rodin. You can call me Mr. Rodin. If that’s uncomfortable, you can call me Boss, too.”

“Okay, sir. I will call you that.”

“Yes. As you wish. Oh! The annex is empty, so please move there. It will be easier to prepare meals there.”

“All right.”

Margaret bowed her head politely and helped her son Matthew out of the drawing room.

It was uncomfortable to feed my son in this position. I planned to prepare his meals in a room where no one else could see him.

After Margaret and Matthew left, Bianca resumed eating. Even though the food was already cold, she enjoyed it.

* * *

The big work is done, but there’s still a lot of work left to do.

First, I went to the market with Margaret and bought all new kitchen utensils. Pots, pans, spoons, bowls, etc. There was so much that I was short on that I had to load up a cart and bring it all.

In the evening, I introduced Larry to Margaret and Matthew. It was only dinner, but they would see each other again in the future. It was necessary to introduce them in advance.

And it was also important to explain to Matthew about the past times.

Matthew had no memory of the past three years. He collapsed in a mine and opened his eyes only to find himself in a stranger’s house. How absurd.

Margaret gave a brief account of what had happened.

The fact that the woman who promised to marry his son left him, that he had been unconscious for three years, and that Margaret’s own accident at the restaurant.

There was so much to talk about.

After all the talking, the next morning.

Peace was restored to the house.

Matthew adapted surprisingly quickly and started exercising right away. He knew without even having to be taught that he had to move his body to get it back to normal.

After Margaret finished preparing meals, she spent a lot of time with her son. She helped him exercise and cheered him on.

Three days later.

Rodin put on his robe for the first time in a long while and prepared to go out. He also packed some light snacks in his backpack. Margaret had prepared the food for him.

“Brother Rodin! When will you come back?”

“Well, I don’t know. I’ll try to come as soon as possible.”

Margaret and Matthew had already been paid. They had already paid for a month’s worth of groceries for the children, and had also given Bianca and Larry plenty of extra money just in case.

“It shouldn’t take too long. Brother Rodin, come quickly.”

“Okay. I’ll go.”

Like the port towns of Rance and Hasson, Richmond’s Marquisate also had stagecoaches.

Rodin took a stagecoach from near his house and traveled to the city gate. From there, he left the gate on foot.

“Let’s run.”

Rodin started running to get some exercise. When he reached his physical limit, he used flying magic to fly into the sky, and when he regained his strength, he came back down to the ground and ran again.

It didn’t stop even at night. After running and flying repeatedly, it finally reached its destination.

Before I knew it, the sun was slowly rising.

“The Moderate Wasteland. What a strange place.”

I’ve been researching the Modew Wasteland for the past few days. There’s a library within the Marquisate of Richmond, so gathering information has been easy.

“It’s so desolate.”

The Mode Wasteland was a land where not a single blade of grass grew since time immemorial. Even if a tree was transplanted, it would die shortly thereafter.

Moreover, when people gathered to settle down, they would often become ill and collapse. Even the knights suffered the same fate.

The symptoms were different from Matthew’s.

While Matthew was a classic case of mana addiction, others suffered from exhaustion, fever, and the involuntary loss of stamina.

Such a strange phenomenon was occurring, and Matap couldn’t just sit by and watch.

Wizards have been dispatched from the Tower to investigate this place for hundreds of years. The most recent investigation was about three years ago, when Matthew fell, and before that, roughly twenty years ago.

However, even the wizards dispatched to investigate suffered from exhaustion and high fever. They even developed seizures, which were not seen in ordinary people.

Fortunately, the high-circle wizards did not have such symptoms. That is why the Magic Tower had to leave only the high-circle wizards for research, and withdraw all the low-level wizards.

“And yet, there was nothing to be gained.”

Even though we’ve been investigating for quite some time, we haven’t found anything. Even the Four Great Towers withdrew after only giving the shameful result of ’cause unknown’.

“Hmm, is it normal?”

Contrary to expectations, the Mana concentration in the Mode Wasteland was not high. There was little difference compared to other areas around it.

“Still, there are traces left.”

Rodin’s senses showed traces of mana quickly leaving and then returning, as if children had rushed out to play, only to return home at the sound of their mother’s voice.

In the process, clear traces of the original mana that had settled here remained.

“The place I returned to… is over there.”

Rodin’s senses were sharp, and he approached slowly. He was worried that someone might be there, but fortunately there was no one around.

“This way.”

There were traces of a slanted digging into the ground. Here and there, abandoned carts and old smelting equipment could be seen.

“Are you shaking a little?”

The large hole in front of me was a tunnel that miners had dug down. There was an eerie atmosphere inside the dark hole.

“It looks like the entrance to hell, Light.”

He created a sphere of light and stepped into the tunnel. The sphere of light Rodin created slowly pushed away the darkness.

“Phew.”

The air wasn’t very good. I took a towel out of my bag and covered my mouth, but the stale air still pierced my nose.

‘I should study the magic that purifies the atmosphere.’

Research is a problem for later. For now, let’s continue into the tunnel.

The concentration of mana was the same inside and outside. It was too ordinary.

‘Right here.’

After retracing the trail of mana for several hours, we reached the end of the hole the miners had dug.

‘Hmm.’

The front was blocked. Mana went back beyond the blockage, but there was no way for a person to enter.

‘I have to break it. Ugh.’

As Rodin returned, he cleared away the objects in the tunnel. He lifted the abandoned carts with his magic hand, and pushed the lighter ones himself and threw them out of the entrance.

After repeating this three times, the tunnel was completely cleared.

“Because if something happens, you have to run away.”

I cleared away all the things that might get in my way when I ran away. It was quite difficult, but I felt relieved because there were no obstacles.

“Phew.”

Rodin returned to the place where he had been blocked again. Looking at the wall blocking his way, his chest felt heavy.

“Let’s break through. Ice Barrier, Wind Storm, Fire Storm.”

First, he erected a barrier made of ice in front of his body. It was a safety device to protect his body from the explosion.

After that, I cast the 5-circle magic Wind Storm and Fire Storm in succession to create them in both hands. I completed the magic, but it didn’t hit the target.

“Whew, let’s go.”

He simultaneously launched two 5-circle magic spells he had created in both hands forward. The two spells collided exactly when they hit the wall.

Kwaaaaang!

The ground caved in with a loud noise. At the same time, debris fell on Rodin.

“Ice Barrier! Magic Shield!”

Since the defensive magic I had already created was not enough, I used two more magic spells. The fragments that hit the last magic shield I created finally fell to the ground.

“Phew.”

The two ice barriers were shattered by dozens of fragments. If I had been a little bit slower in creating the magic shield, the fragments would have been directly embedded in my body.

“How much did you sell it for?”

I went ahead and checked for myself. The area around the wall, about 20 meters away, was empty.

“Let’s try again. Ice Barrier, Ice Barrier, Magic Shield. Fire Storm, Wind Storm!”

This time, I created three defensive spells from the beginning and placed them in front of my body. After that, I sent Fire Storm and Wind Storm forward and had them meet at the point where they should explode.