e people who ran away were distracted, so they could care less about the cold wind pushing their backs or making the frog bellacs fly away.

Even if a frog bellac suddenly seemed to fly and attack while jumping, Nina didn’t slow down the attack on the monsters.

“Hyaah!”

The number of bellacs quickly decreased every time the spear twirled in her hand. They also recognized that there were invisible attacks from somewhere, but they were not capable enough to capture or hit whoever was raiding them.

They shot their tongues everywhere because they couldn’t see Nina, but she wasn’t someone who could be hit by a blind attack.

Dealing with a mountain of bellacs in a flash, Nina looked at the high-grade bellac.

There seemed to be a series of magic attacks going on. The rooster bellac flew up with its huge body using its wing, spun around, and sprayed poison.

“Well, ······.”

She doesn’t want to take care of that.

‘No uniform, plus poison, that brings back bad memories.’

“Nana! Nana!!”

Looking back at the voice, Jack was shouting this and that, Nina approached.

“Who’s Nana?”

“Oh, my God, you scared me. Should I call you by your real name, then?”

Nina said to Jack, who was whining in the wrong direction.

“This way, this way.”

“I don’t know because I can’t see.”

Speaking with a sour voice, Jack called Randell.

Randell, who magically pushed the ship from the coastline so that the ship could float safely, ran and cast a spell on Nina.

“What are we going to do now?”

Jack asked and Nina grinned back.

“You said earlier that we won’t get anything if we kill the bellacs, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But don’t you think that’s a little bit of a loss for us?”

“What are you going to do?”

“People here are magic tool craftsmen, right? Don’t you need them for the Wizard’s Tower? Since this land, in which bellacs attacked, is now polluted and dangerous, why don’t we ask for the Duchy to take them in?”

The Duchy of Luverne is a safe land from bellacs and the only place that accepts strangers without commotion.

Don’t you agree?

“Whew, ······.”

Jack had an evil smile.

“If you call the Romie Guild, they’ll accommodate a transport in no time.”

Besides, “Friendly Jack,” who saved their life, was like the leader of the group now. Won’t they listen if he persuades them?

“It will be a success if we can take at least a few.”

“It’s already a success.”

Having a foundation for any technology and starting from scratch are two different things. Even if only one person is rescued, this will be of great benefit to the Duchy of Luverne.

Of course, the same goes for the Wizard’s Tower.

“But if it takes too long to get to the Duchy, there may be problems.”

“We can just say that Randell, a high-leveled wizard from Blue Stone Island, heard the news and opened a portal to get there faster because of his affection for his compatriots.”

Nina said triumphantly.

Jack was amazed.

“That’s a good motif. Comradeship.”

Even an estranged child would have affections for its cold hometown.

Nina was about to ask what Randell thought about the plan, but then she closed her mouth.

He was staring at the sparkling Blue Stone Castle and loud noises could be heard as if to announce the fight that was going on with the rooster bellac. The mixed feelings of running to help and at the same time not wanting to go there seemed to make him be at his wit’s end.

“Randell, it’s okay. They are not going to go down. There’s no way that they can’t take care of a single A-class Bellac, besides we took care of all the low-grade bellacs that attacked the village.”

It was a list of facts rather than words of comfort.

But at times like this, such cold words would be the most acceptable to the ears.

He took his eyes off the castle and looked at the village.

“I know. No, I didn’t even think that I could save anyone······.”

All the memories he had with his teacher were in the lower village. The villagers were also kind to him, a young apprentice, which reminded Randell of a very strange feeling.

The feeling of being treated kindly and respected without swearing and fists flying in.

He didn’t want to come to town so often because it was strange, but unlike other wizards, his teacher diligently took him around the lower village.

To the extent that he would hear sarcastic things said by other sages about when his research would be done. Come to think of it, his teacher tried to let him meet a lot of people and make him feel various emotions.

‘He’s really impressive.’

Randell thought so. Now he remembers everything he didn’t remember.

His teacher’s consideration and words came to mind. The lid, that he had closed because he didn’t want to think of them as a hated memory or a betraying memory, was now opened.

The little memory turned into a good one and supported him.

He was not betrayed by his precious person. He was loved properly.

If he had thrown the notebook into the sea, everything would be finished, he would have lost it forever.

“Thank you, Nina.”

When he said so, she shook her hand as if it was nothing.

“Don’t mention it. Let’s go. The people must be anxious. If something goes wrong, the target could be changed into the people floating on the sea.”

At Nina’s words, Jack and Randell instantly became serious and quickly started to move.

────── •❆• ──────

Kirill said with a ridiculous look on her face while letting out the pipe’s smoke.

“I heard you moved all the people of the Blue Stone Island.”

“Oh, not everyone.”

Nina shook her hand and Kirill shook her head thinking of the commotion.

“I’ve heard that the island is about to collapse.”

“How many years has it been since they came over from Yara? It doesn’t make sense for the Sage’s Island, which has been fine since then, to collapse just because of one high-rank bellac.”

“They said that it’ll be hard to rebuild, make new experiment tools and furniture without the craftsman. They are making a fuss about giving them back.”

“How can we force them to go when the people say they don’t want to. The sages have to come from the Blue Stone Island themselves and try to convince them.”

Nina sighed, placed a hand on her cheek, and tilted her head.

Kirill chuckled at her actions.

They lived on a closed-off island, and now that they have settled in the sparkling Duchy of Luverne, they don’t want to go back.

Of course, some may still want to go back to their good old hometown, but there’s not an easy way to go home and it’s even harder to go back to a place polluted by bellacs. Though anyone who lost a family there, wouldn’t want to return.

Above all, the peculiar atmosphere of the Duchy by actively accepting foreigners without partiality to any strangers also played a part.

Randell even said he would buy their products for 1.5 times the price.

Of course, some wanted to go back, so they didn’t stop them and just let them go.

Most of the key workers remained anyway.

“And I heard you found a new material for tarok.”

“Yes, I heard it’s much more efficient than the original tarok. They say that it can gather mana three times faster.”

“Let me make a new one for myself.”

“Do it. There are a lot of ingredients. And Randell decided to drop the word ‘Tarok’ and renamed it ‘Pendulum’.”

“He’s really opening a new chapter, that brat.”

‘Being young is good,’ said Kirill while shaking her head.

“No, Kirill’s still young, too.”

“Right. But why should I make all this noise when I’m old. It should be done when one is young.”

Kirill spoke nonchalantly while sucking the smoke from her pipe.

Nina murmured, “Kirill can always do it if there is someone younger than her to help her.”

Kirill giggled, lowered the pipe, opened the cupboard, and took out a purse.

“Well, that’s the thing we talked about.”

“Oh, is this it?”

Nina opened the pocket. It was full of round candies.

“I can’t guarantee the taste.”

“All medications Kirill makes are always like that. They taste terrible.”

It was a candy to eat in case the spirits rapidly used her energy and Nina got exhausted. It contains sugar to provide more strength and medicinal herbs to replenish energy.

“The limit is five at a time. Don’t eat too much. It’s pretty strong.”

Nina nodded at Kirill’s words. Not knowing what would happen in the capital with the Saint’s arrival, she had asked for it to be made.

The green candy looked scary, so the taste must be just as scary.

‘But it’s a lump of sugar, so it’s sweet, right?’

Is it a combination of sweetness and bitterness, or will the sweetness maximize the bitterness?

‘I really don’t want to have to find out.’

Nina got up from her seat with the candy pockets.

“Nina.”

“Yes.”

“Be careful.”

Nina opened her eyes wide at the words that were nothing like the usual Kirill. She continued with a frown.

“Because it’s your first time attending the New Year’s Ball.”

“Okay.”

“Humans are the most troublesome statute. The body should always be comfortable. It never complains, but it’s always honest.”

Nina said, “I’ll be careful,” and left the room.

────── •❆• ──────