“So you were here.”

Mayer, the head attendant whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, was standing at the corner with a gentle smile.

Jade jumped in surprise, while Axel looked at him with a dull gaze.

“Oh…”

Mayer seemed very flustered upon seeing Axel. Jade sent Axel, who was twisting his head in displeasure, flying back with a smack and put an awkward smile on her face.

“Ah, I, I’m sorry. Is His Majesty waiting?”

“No, not at all. He was worried that you might get lost, so he sent me. He also told me to find out if there were any interesting stories.”

The head attendant, who spoke in a gentle voice, hesitated for a moment. Then, unable to contain his curiosity, he finally opened his mouth.

“Is the person you were supposed to meet Sir Leon Kyung?”

“Huh? No, haha. Someone just left. He was here with me but left!”

When she looked at Axel with emphasis in her eyes, as if asking if that wasn’t the case, he looked at her with displeasure but eventually nodded.

“I think so.”

“Hmm… I see. Anyway, let’s go now. Sir Leon Kyung should also go together.”

The head attendant, who answered awkwardly, took the lead with silent footsteps. Following behind, Jade buried her face in her palms.

Damn it, didn’t we look suspicious somehow?

Even when she looked at Axel with a sad face, he only avoided her gaze and didn’t offer any words of comfort. Seeing that reaction, half of her hope disappeared. The head attendant was no different from a medium who gathered rumors from all over the country and delivered them to the king.

With a sad heart, thinking of a gift that could at least stop the head attendant’s mouth a little, she trudged along and found herself in the east wing reception room.

“Come to think of it, why is Sir Leon Kyung going together during my reception time?”

“Everyone is together.”

Just as she was about to ask who they were referring to as everyone, the huge white door opened.

Squinting at the brightly shining light for a moment to focus, she noticed a group of people gathered in a large space.

“Ah, Your Majesty…”

“The Flame Wizard! Oh, you two came together. It must have been quite a while since you met, but did you greet each other? That’s good!”

The king’s eyes shone with a particularly cheerful voice.

Looking around, Rigel was staring at Jade with wide eyes, while several wizards were chatting without any interest in her. Even Jade, who was far from research, recognized the famous people.

Axel walked towards them with big strides. He seemed calm as if this scene was his daily life.

“Yes. We already greeted each other.”

“You must have been happy to see each other, right?”

The king urged Axel as if he wanted a specific answer, but he brushed it off with an indifferent face. Then the king, stomping his feet like a child, looked at Jade with enthusiasm.

Not knowing what he wanted, Jade blinked and spoke in a puzzled voice.

“No, I just came to talk about the coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Ah… I see…”

The king grumbled as if he lost interest. Jade politely placed the written envelope on the hand he held out. The envelope, decorated with gold foil here and there, shone like a jewel itself. Then the king changed his expression again and shouted.

“Finally. Congratulations!”

“You’re too kind. Thank you for always helping me.”

“What. It’s all thanks to you.”

The king, who smiled brightly, gently pushed Jade’s back to set the direction.

“It will be difficult to attend, but I will gratefully accept your heart. By the way, I have trusted you for a very long time. Do you remember? When I was a greenhorn and you were a greenhorn too.”

“Your Majesty has never been a greenhorn.”

She didn’t fall for the flowing words and raised her chin. Jade inwardly admired herself. Wow, I’m pretty good.

However, the king shook his head.

“Enough with such words. Anyway, it means that I trust you as much as the time we have spent together.”

Why is the content he’s laying down so long-winded? Jade slightly frowned, but the king didn’t stop talking.

“You must have been curious why I asked you to come to the east reception room today when you always frequented the west one, but we have been continuously researching those monster corpses. The ones you painstakingly brought.”

“What is the reason for your research? It doesn’t seem to be just for academic purposes.”

The king grinned.

“Of course, to thoroughly swallow up the Jisen land.”

They said there was no one who properly shared the information. Jade sat among the wizards surrounding the monster corpses.

They whispered while glancing at each other.

“His Majesty is truly amazing.”

“Did he dispatch diplomats?”

“He couldn’t have just exchanged letters, right?”

Rigel spat out in a grumpy voice and flipped over a part of the monster corpse.

The king of El Cion, after a very long and arduous effort, had made an agreement with the king of Jisen. It was called the Lund-Milburn Agreement.

In other words, the Jisen Kingdom agreed to hand over a part of the border land in exchange for the El Cion Kingdom dealing with the monsters rooted above the southern and northern parts of their land.

Of course, it was unknown whether the king of Jisen knew the true value of that land when making this agreement. Even if he knew, he might have judged that the situation spread over that land was too serious. Jisen had lost a lot of its army.

Anyway, handing over land in this way was unheard of in the past hundred years or so.

Jade tilted her head and thought.

Our Majesty is truly wise. With this opportunity, he can increase the army belonging to the king without any checks, instead of the subjugation troops that are always being assembled. How much of a gain is that?

Could it be that bringing Axel from the Atanase Forest was also in consideration of such a future? He is excellent as a knight, so he has value.

Oh, then Axel will naturally have to stay outside? No matter how arbitrary he is, he won’t be able to refuse the king’s orders…

She tried to steal a glance by raising her gaze, but he was already looking at her, so their eyes met head-on. When she coughed and pretended to examine the monster again, a small chuckle was heard faintly.

Then an unnamed wizard called her.

“Did you say you’re the Flame Wizard?”

When she turned her gaze, a man she had never seen a portrait of was standing and looking at her.

With unkempt gray hair and hunched shoulders. His eyes were clear, but he had a sense of shabbiness all over. He always looked haggard as if apologizing for something.

“I’m grateful to be called that. My name is Jade Broen. Please feel free to call me Jade.”

“I see. My name is Oakley.”

It was just an ordinary self-introduction, but one wizard frowned as if displeased. However, Oakley, as if knowing nothing, stood with his body shrunk and spoke slowly.

“Let’s get straight to the point. There must be a reason why you are called the Flame Wizard.”

It was strange that he was asking for an explanation of something that everyone knew. However, Jade opened her mouth without showing it.

“It’s because I show strengths only in fire-attribute magic. My wind-attribute magic is at a basic level, and I have no talent at all in other attributes.”

I couldn’t even get past the basic magic books.

When she shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing, some familiar wizards smiled faintly.

“Thank you. Then I have one request. Could you infuse mana into this?”

What Oakley pointed to with his usual manner was the fingertip of the monster’s corpse that still looked as vivid as if it were alive.

“Sure. Should I control the mana flow or not?”

“You don’t have to. I think it would be better to have a stronger flow.”

Oakley stopped a wizard who was trying to intervene with a frown in a timid manner. Jade obediently squatted down and grabbed the monster’s long fingers that looked like they would crumble.

She pushed in the explosive and fierce flow that always flowed through her body as it was. Well, since the king standing behind didn’t stop her either, she could do it to her heart’s content!

“Ahhh!”

And she swiftly stepped back, and the knights guarding the surroundings put their hands on their swords. Axel had already taken a step forward.

The reason was quite bizarre. As soon as she infused strong mana, the muscles that made up the monster wriggled and moved.

Oakley with hunched shoulders slowly nodded.

“As I thought.”

“Huh, what is this? We have already tried this approach several times, so why is it reacting only to the mana of the Broen’s successor?”

“No… If you knew this would happen, shouldn’t you have told me…?”

The serious wizards seemed to not even hear Jade’s grumbling. Rigel grabbed Jade’s surprised hand and helped her up, muttering.

“They are worse than me. No, I can’t even be compared…”

“I see…”

Even without hearing, she could guess the hardships Rigel had gone through during the days he spent with them. He looked so haggard that even though it was the first time seeing him since the day of his sudden confession, it wasn’t awkward at all.

Jade gave Rigel a sympathetic look and focused on Oakley’s opening lips.

“Well, I just tried it…”

However, that was the answer that came out. One wizard spat out with dissatisfaction.

“Just? This is the only corpse with a core left. Wouldn’t it be better to be careful?”

“Originally, these things that are tried based on imagination often show better results. It would be better if all theories were completed before doing it, but that’s just a fantasy…”

Oakley rubbed the tip of his nose and continued.

“The basis of my thought is this. It was said that when the monsters died, they all showed different appearances, right? Some flowed like water, some scattered like ashes, and some crumbled like soil.”

“That’s right.”

When Jade nodded, Oakley smiled faintly as if grateful.

“I heard that the fur tips of this one crumbled like ashes. Then can’t we associate it with flames again?”

“So that’s why you needed my mana?”

“Yes. You said you only show strengths in fire-attribute magic, right? That’s probably because the mana itself has a raging characteristic. If it’s that prominent, the water-attribute magic must be impossible due to the intense flow.”

“Raging, huh.”

Axel muttered from behind as if he understood. Jade glared at him for a moment and quickly asked.