Chapter 4

A Place Where Blood Can’t Be Seen (2)

“Damn, bastard!”

At midnight,

The soldier who almost lost his neck,

‘Jonathan’ shouted in the small Inn located at the corner of the province castle.

He was already fully drunk, with the soldiers who were on their day off.

“How dare he, I will show him who I am!”

“Calm down, buddy. I’m afraid that you are gonna lose your neck for good.”

“Shut up! Who’s side are you on?”

He raised his voice, neglecting his colleague’s advice.

“We don’t take any side, we are just scared that the sparks may fly in our faces. Just take care of yourself, and forget about it for now. The one you are trying to fight against is a mage, buddy. A MAGE.”

“Humph! Take care of myself? a MAGEEE?’

Gulguk Gulguk

Jonathan emptied the whole jug quickly.

“Bullshit!”

He smashed the jug on the ground.

Seems he didn’t keep Ian’s warning in his mind.

“Damn! You just ruined my mood. Hey Innkeeper! I’ll pay for it later!”

“Sir, It is already been a month that you…..”

“Do you think I’m a thief? Huh? I told you I’ll pay for it!”

Seems he hasn’t paid for a month.

As a small businees operator, they couldn’t dare to anything against a province veteran  soldier.

“Sigh….”

After Jonathan left, the innkeeper sighed deeply.

The other soldiers also shook their heads.

“Humph, he boasted a lot about connections with a noble, now look at him.”

“Even the noble he bootlicked won’t be able to deal with the mage.”

“Are you serious? Not just that small noble he bootlicked, but even the great landlord has to crawl under the Ivory tower. This time, Jonathan is in big trouble, hahaha.”

Everyone now started to run Jonathan down.

Jonathan must have had a bad reputation between colleagues, too.

“By the way, Vannesa, that chick now got the jackpot.”

“I was wondering tge first time when she fell in love with some ugly man who looked like an oak, who knew he gave birth to a mage! If I were female, I would have rushed to him as well!”

“What was that oak-like man’s name? He had a sir in his name as well, didn’t he?”

“Page… ah! Fran Page!”

“Oh yeah! you brainy.”

From Jonathan, now stories moved to Ian.

“Was that man a mage as well?”

“Stupid man, do you think a mage always has an mage son?”

“It’s not?”

“In most case the son is just ordinary man.”

“Are you jokking me? How do you even know that?”

“Ahem, There are always ways to know.”

While discussion of the fat soldier had started, Jonathan was walking street fully inebriated.

“I… I will do any means necessay!”

Even walking straight seems hard for Jonathan now.

“In front of that brat…. I’ll … with Vanesssa… *burp*”

He now hiccuped and shouted loudly.

“Hehehehe!”

Jonathan started making a lusty face.

Then he stopped at an riverside.

He wanted to pee in it.

“Why is it uneasy to untie? Do you underlook me as well?”

Now he started to rebuke his waist belt as well.

Well, what a shame to him.

“*burp* First was that mage, now you make me beg…?”

“Didn’t I tell you before? I will be watching you”

A sudden voice came from his back.

It was that moment that Jonathan looked back urgently.

“……!”

“Paralyze.”

Jonathan’s body paralyzed and he couldn’t move his body anymore.

He can’t look back further, can’t run away.

Only thing he could do was breathing.

“You won’t able to move for a while. That’s how this magic works.”

The voice of that little boy was enough to understand situation.

Again, the mage, Ian.

“What was it again you said? What will you do with my mother, infront of me?”

“Urghurgh…..!”

Jonathan struggled against the magic.

A vein popped out on his forehead.

“Here is the story of Jonathan. One day, he was insulted by the son of degraded kitchen maid, he drank that night to forget the humiliation. He drank untill he became totally unconscious, and there were witnesses at the inn.”

It was the story of the jonathan today.

“Even though he lost control, he wanted to pee and his body instinct led him near the riverside. However, the riverside was slippery, and there was noone who can help him. Hmm, Indeed, it looks quite dangerous, for a fully drunken man.”

Ian finished the story, then pushed Jonathan into river.

*splash!*

Jonathan fell into river and his head reached the river first.

If Ian left him like that, he will drown.

“I thought about it a lot, should I shed blood again? The reason I researched thedragon chant, was to erase the blood on my hand. If I can turn time back, I swear that I will not shed innocent blood, make my own unregretful choice.”

The voice was small, Jonathan might not be able to hear this story.

“But actually, probably that’s not I wanted. Now I can see that thanks to you.”

Ian continued his story.

Maybe, it is now his soliloquy.

“I found that I haven’t wanted to erase the blood. But just don’t want others to see the blood on my hands. That’s what I didn’t like.”

Another face of Every War hero.

A stigma, that innocent victims were invovled in his massacre.

Now, Jonathan’s strugglng nearly stopped

“By any means, do not forgive my action. A man who poisoned me once told me this as well”

What was the Emperor’s thought?

Now, Ian was able to guess it slightly.

Ian returned to the Inn, not his house.

The size of a little cottage the mom and son had was too small, to host Aaron who has a big body.

So they decided to live in a nearby inn.

Ian and his mother used the same room and Aaron stayed next door.

‘I feel a headache.’

Ian safely arrived to the inn.

He had felt the headache since he come back to the inn.

It was a reaction due to insufficent mana in his body.

‘Didn’t expect one paralyze spell to have emptied my mana’

He expected he won’t be able to use it twice, though.

A little boy’s body, who hadn’t started ‘mana breath’ yet.

Quantity of mana in this whole body must be small.

There was still a limit for Ian’s body, although it has potential to become 8th class later.

‘It’s fortunate the reaction ended as a headache.’

As the red heart cycles the blood flow, the Mana heart stacks, and cycles the mana.

Of course, there is a limit to the stacking of mana as well.

Mages called it ‘mana pool’.

What Ian only needs to improve now was his mana pool.

He still remembers all the spell mechanism’s.

‘I better start mana meditation from now on.’

There were a few ways to increase mana the pool permanently.

Mana breath was one of the most standard ways to increase it.

A Special way of breathing that stimulates the mana heart which is located inside of the heart.

Specifically, the mana breath that Ian invented was superior.

Much more efficient compared to academy’s mana breath.

‘I often imagined, what if I invented this mana breath earlier.’

He invented this mana breath when he was 34.

Even starting the new breath late, it allowed him to grow further.

‘What level can I reach from now, this time?’

Furthermore, an unprecedent genius young mage now goes to the academy.

They will support him as much as they can.

‘I can engross many elixers. in addition, even artifacts.’

How much stronger can I be ?

I couldn’t even imagine the result.

‘Let’s start.’

Ian sat down.

It was necessary to do mana breath to calm down his headache.

Ian tried to be as quiet as possible to avoid interrupting his mother’s sleep.

He can see that her face became well.

Would it be because of the brighter future for her only precious son?

It seems she forgot about the soldier.

‘That’s a relief.’

First day he time traveled,

He felt comfortable and started to focus on the mana breath.