Chapter 72.2

As they rode the carriage to the scene, Reynard’s mind was in chaos. He had only been away from Yurina for about thirty minutes, but he still couldn’t get her out of his mind.

‘Are you okay?’

Now the cottage of the Carthia family was guarded by many barriers of magic, as well as knights. In case of new trouble, Dave cast alarm magic around the villa before leaving the house.

Raynard wanted to be around Yurina all the time, but seeing how things were shaping up, he just couldn’t help but go. If he doesn’t shed light on evil intentions and cut them off at the root, then he will never experience relief.

If this entire incident was indeed an assassination attempt on Yurina, perhaps another attack would be not long in coming.

Raynard clenched his trembling hands. He knew in his head that Yurina was safe, but his heart still felt uneasy.

Dave asked after watching him:

“Are you really okay?”

Raynard smiled and replied:

“Is there a reason for me not to be okay? I was cured immediately after the bite.”

“But what are the consequences?”

“There is none. Yesterday my muscles hurt a little, but now I’m like new.”

“But your hands are shaking…”

Dave’s gaze turned to the hands in Reynard’s lap. Raynard quickly put them behind his back.

“It’s not because of the injury. It’s just…”

Then he bit his tongue.

It wasn’t a lie. It’s not the result of an injury. It’s just because he was very nervous.

Raynard smiled smugly at Dave and then pulled out the necklace he wore around his neck. It was a necklace with a red pendant, exactly the same as Yurina’s. The stone was smooth a few days ago. Now it was covered in a web of cracks, as if it could crumble at any moment.

Seeing this, he felt his excited heart slowly subside, as if he had been doused with cold water.

‘I’m so glad I did this thing.’

He didn’t mention this to Yurina, but the necklace given to Yurina a year and a half ago had another function. Instant alarm function. When Yurina used the mana invested in the stone, a signal was sent to his necklace.

For the last year and a half in the Crohn Kingdom, Reynard had been checking the necklace several times a day. Every time he saw that the stone was in good condition, he was relieved. Even if another nightmare woke him from sleep before dark, the sight of this necklace gave him little consolation.

However, while chasing a deer, when the alarm suddenly went off, he even seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. Forgetting everything else, he was shocked at the sight he saw after teleporting to Yurina.

He couldn’t even imagine what would have happened if Yurina didn’t wear that necklace.

“By the way, what did you learn at the academy anyway? You couldn’t cope with a single wolf, and I also put your back under attack. Don’t tell anyone that you’re my student.”

Dave, seeing the serious expression of Reynard, took it into his head to joke about this in order to cheer him up. But this joke didn’t succeed in smoothing out the atmosphere in the carriage.

“No matter how you look at it, it’s very strange.”

“What?”

“I moved through space and saw a wolf running towards Yurina, so I used physical protection magic. The situation was urgent, so I reasoned that it would be better to save Yurina and deal with the wolf afterward than use attack magic on the wolf.”

“And then?”

“Protective magic had no effect, as you can see.”

Dave’s face became serious. He kept his mouth shut and touched the frame of his glasses.

“If a wild animal is rushing towards you, you should certainly resort to physical protection magic. That’s what they taught at the academy. As troubling as the situation was, you couldn’t go wrong with such a small thing. So something is definitely weird here.”

“You know what’s even weirder? After I got bitten by a wolf, everything worked again. Because I used a magic protection spell just in case.”

“What? Not a physical protection spell, but a magic protection spell?! Hold on, what mage would use magic protection for a simple wolf?!”

“It was clear to me right away that the wolf was targeting Yurina, that the physical protection magic didn’t work, and that external factors were involved. But I don’t know why the Imperial Knights haven’t been able to find the mastermind behind all this chaos yet.”

Dave grabbed Reynard’s shoulder, who was breathing heavily at that moment.

“Don’t worry so much. We’ll find out.”

“How can I not worry!? Yurina almost got hurt! If only I were a second too late…!”

Raynard screamed, but later realized that the man in front of him was Dave, his master, and his object of admiration.

Inside the carriage, in the following moments, only Reynard’s ragged breathing and the noise of the wheels were heard.

“I thought you were grown up. But you’re still like a child.”

Dave patted Reynard on the shoulder and remembered his childish face. In his teachings, Reynard kept getting angry with himself and complaining about slow progress.

“I need to learn magic and protect Yurina!”

Although he protected Yurina with his magic, he was still angry at himself for not being able to nip this danger in the bud.

Meanwhile, the carriage stopped.

Dave looked outside and opened the door.

“Reynard, get out. Let’s check what you see. And don’t worry so much.”

Raynard nodded and left the carriage.

Despite the fact that the place had already been tidied up, the landscape around the cottages was so horrific that it was difficult to describe in words. The cladding of the walls was torn by wolf claws, dark red blood in some places, and the corpses of wolves left for the investigation.

Raynard was now staring at the wolf in a frenzy. Dave stopped behind and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Reynard.”

Dave looked into Reynard’s eyes.

“I think you’d be better off changing your eye color.”

Raynard’s eyes were purple, just like the day of the hunting tournament. He still had to hide the fact that he was ‘Blessed’. Yurina and Marquis Carthia concluded that it would be better to keep his return hidden until the situation calmed down and the social season began.

“Purple is also catchy. You’d better blend in with the crowd, if possible.”

Raynard chuckled. He still remembered Yurina’s words that Dave would be unhappy with his eye color.

“I can’t help it. They only turn purple.

No wonder Dave will be intrigued by this.

“Your eyes reject mana?”

“Looks like it.”

“It’s interesting. We’ll have to study this matter in more detail when we return.”

“I knew the master would be interested in this.”

Raynard grinned. Dave laughed, took off his hat and threw it on Reynard’s head.

“Still, you better not show your face to strangers. Someone could see you at the time of the attack. And if someone saw your teleport, it doesn’t need decades to recognize you as a mage.”

Raynard dutifully put on his hat. It seemed that this wasn’t enough, then he covered his eyes with bangs so that the purple color stood out even less.

Then Dave nodded approvingly and directed Reynard to the place.

Since the incident happened at an event organized by the royal family, the investigation was also carried out by the imperial knights. When Dave and Reynard tried to get closer to the scene, a knight in the form of an imperial unit stood in their way.