Ch 23 – Accidental Magical Development

"Oh, that's great news." Hal actually enjoyed a lot having an extra mage. 

"And we are going to Ungri with her since that's where she's heading." Mary completed, making Hal's face sour.

"You don't plan to take one of those suicidal missions that awards a lot of money on the way do you?" Bid was the one to ask the question Hal had thought. 

"Haha... Why would you even think I would think about doing such a thing ha ha..." Mary tried... 

"You know it's obvious right?" Ace pointed her flaw, coldly. 

"... Then there's no good trying to hide it. We have another powerful magician, why don't we just do it already!?" Mary's facade fell to the ground immediately after being found out. 

"What are you talking about?" Necro had no clue as to what exactly they were talking. All she knew is that it was some dangerous stuff. 

"There's a lot of bandits from here to the capital since it's away from large cities... The Ungrian armies are not large enough to patrol the whole territory... The only country that doesn't have that many problems with bandits is Wallachia... that's why we are here. That being said, there are lots of them closer to the border." Mary started explaining what was the cause of the problem, while trying to avoid making the danger clear, but that didn't stop Necro from asking the very point.

"So the missions you are talking about are about thinning them out?"

"Nah... Those are actually fun... The ones she wants to take are the ones about clearing hideouts of large groups of them..." Hal said, annoyed by Mary's roundabout way.

"... Then it's not that hard right?"

"Heh?" (Mary)

"Are you serious?" (Hal)

"Really" (Bid)

"Oh boy..." (Ace)

"Why are you all so surprised? If they don't have magicians Ace alone could relieve 10 of them of their heads with a single spell... And I could probably deal with a small group of them alone if I have enough time to prepare..."

"What do you mean by small...?" Hal asked, troubled.

"Around 30 of 40 if no one interferes... why?"

'Yep... She's very bad at hiding her strength' Ace pressed her temples, hearing Necro's speech.

"Then it's settled! We are taking them!" Mary was very pleased with the answer too... It meant more money.

"Oi! Are you girls even serious?" Bid was incredulous. 

"Yeah right! You have no problem killing people?" And so was Hal.

"Why would we?" Ace said, making their jaws drop.

"They are Bandits, not people." Necro's words were equally surprising.

"If they live we can sell them as slaves so we get even more money!" Mary's was... to be expected, and somehow managed to make both of the boys forget about the weirdness of the others.

"Anyhow... We talk about it if it's still available when we get there." Bid ended the topic, and the group continued walking towards Helf. 

The rest of the day was pretty eventless, the road they were taking hardly saw any movement from either carriages or pedestrians, so it was extremely calm. The group talked about many uninteresting and useless things, stopping only once to eat at lunch, the group went ahead unrelentless until the sun started to set.

The setting sun above the road made it a beautiful scene. But walking the whole day under the sun tired Necro like never before. Walking among the trees was much nicer. 

"Can we please walk through the forest tomorrow? I'm dead here..."

"Why are you saying this to yourself...? Also, while we can, It will take us an extra day to get there... We'll arrive by nightfall tomorrow."

"Just one more day okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just chill."

Necro and Ace were talking to each other a little. Both spent almost the whole afternoon silent, with the exception of Necro's complaints about the sun. Ace on the other hand, was already used to this way of living, so she just ignored the rambling. 

"Ace, Necro. We are searching for somewhere to set camp for tonight. Get closer." Bid's voice was a happy call for Necro. She really just wanted to eat and plop herself into a tent to rest.

"Yes!"

"Why did you get so lively out of nowhere...?" Necro was happy once again. Ace, despite being very happy about getting in bed for obvious reasons, did not share her energy.

After a little more than half an hour, the group set camp in a clearing to the side of the road. It seemed to be a regular camping spot, since there were still traces of human presence here and there. This made it a lot quicker to set camp. Necro was still divided as to whether to check her own tent. It's not like there was an image in the list...

"Ace... Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, hit me up."

"When we check the contents of a Magic Ring... Why does it always show up as a list?"

"What? I mean.... That's a given right?"

"But why? Were you never curious as to whether it could be different?"

"Now that you mention it... I always took it for granted that it was a list... Maybe because the mana usage is lower it became the standard..."

'That's the answer I hoped for!'

"Thanks Acey! I'mma try something."

"What are you..." Ace just stood there, dumbfounded. 

As the mana concentrated into Necro's eyes, Ace realized she was witnessing something she never imagined even in her wildest dreams... The birth of a new magic. 

Magical Rings worked by channeling the environmental mana through a magical stone and storing items, checking what was inside, however, dependent on the Mana of the user, and as such, was used in the most effective way so that anyone could use it. But Necro was now taking the roundabout method of infusing her own mana to see the contents in a different way, creating a new magic never before seen.

DarkGodEM