As long as the location remained unknown, the man’s actions were limited to defense.

“So, I’ve been saying you should have killed me earlier.”

Grumbling, as the man tried to reapply the defensive spell against Eric’s sword, Eric grinned with a raised eyebrow.

Underneath the tattered robe, Eric recognized the eyes of the man he had seen somewhere before.
“This is a time differentiator.”

Alicia, avoiding the hand reaching towards her, stumbled backward and bumped into the wall, settling down in that spot.

“Well, you suddenly got scared?”

Tongue in cheek, the man in the black robe looked down at Alicia.

“Well, I’ve been too brave until now. There aren’t many who can endure this much against me. Even the renowned transcendent sorcerers couldn’t say anything in front of me.”

“Sorcerer?”

“Seems like sorcerers these days are quite discontented. Maybe that’s why they are so interested in magic. They quickly show interest if I teach them a few spells.”

“What are you saying?”

“It’s a natural thing. Distinguishing between magic and sorcery itself is amusing. Besides, magic is much more convenient, faster, and powerful.”

Alicia found herself agreeing. As she discussed with Eric before, she didn’t think the prohibition of magic was reasonable. Corruption was bad, but magic itself was just a tool.

“Do sorcerers also collaborate with you?”

“Well, something like that. Actually, I also need them.”

“Why? To recruit them all and conquer the world with magic?”

“Conquer the world, huh? Haven’t heard that in a while.”

Laughing heartily at Alicia’s sarcastic question, the man suddenly stopped laughing and became serious.

“Well, who knows? Curiosity about pure strength. Isn’t that reasonable?”

“What?”

“Originally, magic, you see, it started from pure curiosity about natural phenomena. The continuous research by humans to reproduce those natural phenomena led to magic.”

Alicia looked up at the man, who seemed to be recalling memories, while sitting on the ground. Unlike before, his voice didn’t send shivers down her spine.

“So, magicians, well, those you call sorcerers, are just people who want to satisfy intellectual curiosity. They’re not annoying folks trying to conquer the world or anything like that.”

The man crouched in front of Alicia.

Despite the face being deeply hidden by the robe, they were quite close.

“How about it? Interested?”

“In what?”

“Don’t you want to become stronger? Don’t you want to help that man? I can help.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. He’s fighting against people like you.”

“If you want, I can keep it a secret. It might be a bit uncomfortable, though.”

The man, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, raised his head and grinned.

“Then let’s recruit that man later.”

“What?”

“I also like that man.”

“What are you talking about?”

Laughing off Alicia’s more hesitant expression, the man suddenly sobered up and stared at Alicia.

Even though his face was hidden by the robe, somehow, Alicia felt a penetrating gaze. She involuntarily flinched.

The man reached out, grabbed Alicia’s chin, and lifted it.

She thought it would be cold, but surprisingly, it was a warm hand.

After observing Alicia like that for a moment, the man opened his mouth.

“Let me ask for one favor.”

“?”

“Later, send my regards. It seems like he doesn’t want to talk much with me.”

“What?”

The man, with the hand adorned with a ring, placed his hand on Alicia’s palm, the same hand that had the black pattern appear earlier.

“It’s good to be protected.”

“?”

“A loved one.”

Removing his hand and laughing, the man, resembling Noah, made an odd statement.

Staring at Alicia with an enigmatic smile, the man responded to her puzzled expression.

“Why do you look at me like that? Do you have something to say?”

“I have nothing to say. Instead… [Dash].”

Alicia swiftly pulled out the dagger hidden on her leg and swung it towards the man.
The man instinctively raised his arm to block the dagger, but instead, his arm got slashed, and blood started to flow from the long cross-shaped wound.

“Oh no.”

The man stepped back, stood up, and looked at the bleeding arm. Then, he glanced at Alicia.

“This is amazing. Were you aiming for this?”

“I never thought it would be that easy.”

“Impressive.”

Upon the man’s praise, Alicia furrowed her brow, then slowly stood up, gripped the dagger, and assumed a stance.

Observing her movements, the man also rose slowly from his position.

Honestly, it was frustrating, but I would be troubled if you got hurt too.”

“What?”

“Regrettably, let’s end it here today.”

When the man in the black robe smiled, a bright light poured out, and Alicia involuntarily closed her eyes.

“This is the time differentiator.”

Inside the museum, Eric’s attacks against the sorcerer continued.

The sorcerer, who barely kept his distance, was panting heavily, gasping for breath as he tried to recover.

Numerous wounds covered his body from the repeated slashes.

“Hmm, in this condition, I might need to reconsider whether to change or not.”

As Eric prepared to rush in to stab the staggering sorcerer, he was suddenly thrown to the ground by a tremendous force.

For a moment, Eric’s vision went black, then slowly returned.

“Ugh.”

Groaning, Eric rolled his body to the side and clutched his side, feeling pain. He applied pressure to the aching side.

With unwavering eyes, he exerted effort to turn his gaze in the direction of the impact.

“Ugh.”

Moaning in pain, Eric turned his head towards the source of the force and found Alicia and the man, who had appeared after finishing his business at the entrance, leisurely waving his hand towards his subordinate.

“Sorry. I’m a bit late.”