Chapter 10: The Wandering Magician

Chapter 10: The Wandering Magician

At this scene, Katarina’s body took an uncontrollable step backward, and her mind fell silent.

Two seconds later, her mouth opened on its own, releasing a male voice.

“Yo, little crow.”

Without waiting for the young man opposite them to respond, “Katarina” smiled to herself.

“You only brought a few avatars. Aren’t you looking down on me a little too much?

“Or are you a postman, delivering Beyonder ingredients to me on a special trip?

“Tell me. What do you want to cooperate on? I don’t hate you that much. After all, what happened back then was entirely planned by that paranoid bastard. The one in charge was Alista Tudor. You were only an accomplice.”

The young man opposite caught the crown covered in rust and bloodstains, straightened, shook his head, and smiled.

“The moment I hear your voice, I lose the urge to cooperate. How about this? Let Sauron and Einhorn come out and talk to me.”

“Tsk, tsk. After all these years, you’re still as willful as a child. Do you remember who was responsible for holding you when you were still an infant? And who burned your hair?” The Red Angel evil spirit mocked without giving the slightest ground.

The young man adjusted the monocle with his free hand. His expression was calm as he turned and walked toward the door without the slightest hesitation.

As he did, he sighed softly.

“Childish.”

Seeing that Amon really had no intention of staying, the Red Angel fell silent for several seconds. Before the other party left the room, He manipulated Katarina’s body and gave a hey.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you want to do. But that doesn’t matter. Since your ideas differ from that paranoid bastard’s when it comes to completing the Lord, there is room for cooperation.”

Amon stopped and half-turned back, looking toward the White Demoness Katarina, who was possessed by the Red Angel evil spirit.

A faint light seemed to flash across the monocle over His right eye.

…

Ahowa County, inside a city undergoing postwar reconstruction. In a bar bearing many burn marks.

“Toby, did you add too much damned water to this beer?” A man in an old flat cap took the cup, drank a mouthful, and couldn’t help complaining.

The owner, who was also acting as bartender, wiped a cup while giving a snort.

“Remember the prohibition order from earlier? Olich, be glad you have beer to drink at all!”

The burly man called Olich muttered a few words and said nothing more, focusing on drinking his beer.

Beside him, a bronze-skinned man with his sleeves rolled up raised his head, looked around, and said,

“I heard the prohibition order will soon be lifted. Feynapotter’s grain will arrive soon. Also, Feysac and Intis will compensate us with large amounts of grain!”

“All I can say is, may the Lord bless that it happens,” the bar owner Toby had just responded when he heard the door open.

He looked up and saw a young man who seemed to be a wandering magician walk in.

The man wore a black robe and a more classical-looking hat. He walked all the way to the bar and sat on a high stool.

“A glass of Southville beer.” The man placed several copper pennies on the counter.

The burly Olich turned his head to glance at this stranger and asked with faint curiosity,

“You’re an outsider? A magician?”

The young man, whose appearance was so ordinary it was hard to remember, chuckled.

“Yes. The magic I’m best at is making people’s wishes come true.”

Olich immediately whistled.

“What did I just hear?

“Making people’s wishes come true!

“Lord, there’s a fellow here pretending to be a deity!”

This kind of teasing immediately drew laughter from the people around them.

The young man who called himself a magician did not get angry at all. He smiled and said,

“It is only a special kind of magic.”

Olich gulped down a mouthful of beer and laughed.

“Then fulfill one of my wishes. Have this stingy owner buy me a beer.”

“All right.” The young man in the black robe lifted his right hand and lightly tapped the table.

With a thud, the bar owner Toby poured a glass of beer, pushed it in front of Olich, then withdrew his hand and went back to wiping cups.

The scene felt strangely familiar, leaving Olich stunned for a moment. Somewhat bewildered, he shouted,

“Toby, you know him?”

“I don’t.” Bar owner Toby shot Olich a look as if he were looking at a fool.

“…” Olich uncertainly lifted the cup and cautiously took a sip, testing whether Toby would make him pay.

Seeing the bar owner ignore him, the burly man turned his head in astonishment and looked at the young man in the black robe and tall hat.

“How did you do that?”

“I told you. A special kind of magic.” The young man leisurely drank a mouthful of Southville beer.

While Olich remained both shocked and doubtful, the man beside him with rolled-up sleeves scoffed.

“I’ll bet you and Toby already discussed it beforehand. Tapping the table meant you would pay for the beer.”

“You may make another wish,” the wandering magician answered without a care.

“My brother and I lost our house in one of the earlier air raids. It’s being rebuilt now. My wish is for it to be restored to how it was before I get back,” the man with rolled-up sleeves said, sounding rather pleased with himself.

This was not an easy thing to do.

The wandering magician lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. Then, smiling, he said,

“Done. Your wish has already been fulfilled.”

The people in the bar who had been watching laughed one after another, no longer paying attention to that foreigner and his clumsy magic show.

After finishing their drinks, the man with rolled-up sleeves and Olich left the bar together, drunkenly making their way toward a street near the outskirts.

A quarter of an hour later, they returned near their home, which was still being rebuilt, preparing to enter the tent distributed by the government.

At that moment, a cool wind blew past, making both of them shiver at the same time.

Immediately afterward, an intact two-story building entered their eyes. It was the house they knew so well, the one they had spent years of savings to build.

Olich and his brother instinctively turned their heads and looked at one another, finding the same bewilderment in each other’s eyes.

“I didn’t drink that much… That damned Toby mixed so much water into the beer!” Olich muttered, looking as though he thought he had gotten drunk enough to hallucinate.

His brother did not respond. After standing dazed for a few seconds, he suddenly broke into a run, rushed toward the building, and touched the wall and front door.

“It’s real, it’s real…” he kept muttering, like a madman.

Olich did the same and finally confirmed that their house, which had been under reconstruction, had already been restored to its original appearance. This left him shocked, delighted, and afraid.

At that moment, his brother abruptly spoke.

“My wish came true. That magician, that magician…”

Before he could finish, he turned and ran, sprinting madly back to the bar from earlier. Olich came back to himself and followed close behind.

Bang!

They shoved open the bar door with great force and rushed in, urgently looking toward the counter.

But the wandering magician in the black robe and tall hat was already gone. No one knew when he had left.

Olich and his brother looked around. They felt both relieved and as if they had lost something.

In the city square, the young wandering magician was crouched before a little girl of about ten years old.

“My magic is to fulfill one wish of yours,” he said, tilting his head and glancing toward the Church of Evernight not far away.

The little girl had run out from the evening mass. She seemed to prefer the empty square.

After thinking for a moment, she looked at the gentle magician across from her and said,

“My wish is for my father, uncle, and older brother to come back to life. I don’t want their pensions…”

The wandering magician did not respond. His gaze suddenly became deep as he looked at the little girl before him.

The little girl tugged at the corners of her mouth and forced a smile.

“I was joking just now. Mom said that even gods can’t fulfill a wish like that…”

As she spoke, she lowered her head and stared at her toes.

“I just want… I just want Dad to hug me once more…”

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly discovered that an extra shadow had appeared in front of her. Hurriedly, she instinctively raised her head and looked to the side.

Standing there was a Loen soldier in a red uniform and white trousers. He carried no gun. He wore a bright, familiar smile and bent down as always, spreading his arms.

“Dad…” The little girl lunged forward, throwing herself into that warm embrace. “I missed you so much…”

At that moment, the young wandering magician pressed down on the top hat on his head, straightened, and walked toward the exit of the square.

As the night wind blew, his black robe swayed gently across the empty plaza.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was Monday.

Above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace, the members of the Tarot Club appeared at the same time and greeted Mr. Fool in orderly fashion.

Klein looked around and suddenly felt a touch of emotion.

The Hanged Man was now a Cardinal of the Church of Storms, in charge of the Rorsted Archipelago diocese. Although Justice had temporarily lost contact with the Psychology Alchemists, she already had the qualifications to become a member of the Council. The Sun was an elder of the City of Silver’s six-member council. The Moon was a Sanguine earl. The Star was a Senior Deacon of the Nighthawks under the Church of Evernight. The Hermit was a hidden ruler upon the seas and one of the ten pillars of the Moses Ascetic Order.

Aside from The Magician and Judgment, who were still only Sequence 5, the other members of the Tarot Club were already demigods, high-ranking figures of different factions in the mysterious world.

And The Magician had the support of the Abraham family, giving her a great chance of advancing to Sequence 4 Secrets Sorcerer within the year.

In other words, the one whose strength was currently the hardest to raise was Judgment. She was only one of MI9’s mid-to-high-level members. Becoming a demigod would be extremely difficult for her.

Klein, the Fool shrouded in grayish-white fog, quickly withdrew his gaze and mocked himself inwardly.

It finally looks like a high-class secret organization… Though it always gives me the feeling of a consultative meeting among major factions…

He then nodded lightly to the members of the Tarot Club.

“Begin.”