Chapter 195

Chapter 195

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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Ian understood the sudden spread of the [Miracle of Talian] story.

Recently, he had sent a letter to the monks Isilla and Takarion asking for help.

The 'help' Ian wanted was protection against attacks from neighboring nobles.

He had wrapped it up as a miracle as a smokescreen.

Ian didn't expect the neighboring nobles to say, "Oh, I see. It's truly a miracle! Hahaha!" and let it go easily.

People are inherently selfish.

They're infinitely generous when it benefits them, but they grit their teeth and lash out at things that cause them loss.

That's human nature.

'You dare steal the game from my domain?!'

Ian wasn't joking - he had imagined scenarios of neighboring nobles leading armies to attack.

The black dragon was rampaging and the world was going to hell, but they couldn't stand losing out personally.

To prevent such incidents, he deliberately created the smokescreen of a [Miracle].

Sugary lies wouldn't be convincing enough, so he borrowed the power of the monks too.

'The situation seems to have wrapped up nicely.'

Ian visited Talian's priest and asked various questions.

The priest warmly welcomed Ian and told him about the discussions within the church.

"His Holiness was overjoyed to hear news of the miracle!"

There were many suspicious circumstances, but none of that mattered anymore.

Why? Because the Pope acknowledged it.

The Pope had declared, "This is definitely a miracle!", so openly opposing it would be doubting the Pope's authority.

Then the church's national-level strategic weapon, the Excommunication-Beam, would come flying.

The nobles who had their game stolen from Ian would be cursing vehemently while looking at the Pope's portrait.

But what else could they do besides cursing?

If this were the southern Empire, they might attack the papal palace out of anger.

But this was the north, far from the Pope.

Disobeying the Pope's words out of anger wasn't a profitable venture.

In the end, all the neighboring nobles could do was hate Talian even more than before.

But Ian wasn't particularly afraid of threats from the nobility.

If war broke out, Ian planned to actively lend his magic to Lucy.

"Ian, my boy. Are you there?" Salvador called out.

"Salvador?" Ian replied, pausing his chat with the priest.

"Would you like to go on patrol with me?"

Ian accepted without hesitation. "Let's go."

---

---

The reason Ian followed Salvador was largely for image-making purposes.

"Knights of Saint Santiago! The torch of the Empire!"

"Ian the miraculous wizard! The one who revived 500 soldiers with a magic potion!"

"???"

Currently, Ian's popularity in the Talian domain was through the roof.

The reason was absurdly... Takarion. Because of the rumors that guy spread.

[Wizard Ian befriended a faithful werewolf!]

[Wizard Ian was extraordinary from the start. When Ian brewed coffee and offered it to the heavens, the heavens were moved and blessed the coffee!]

[Wizard Ian can make healing potions from boiled spoon water!]

Clearly, Ian had hoped Takarion would prevent him from being branded a black wizard.

His wish came true.

No one in Talian thought of Ian as a black wizard.

However...

The wish may have been granted, but...

'You went overboard, Takarion!'

Takarion had packaged Ian as some kind of saint-level religious figure.

There were so many fans of Takarion in the Empire, and Takarion himself was a master of quasi-light novels, so the situation ended up like this.

'For now... enjoy it!'

Ian decided to focus on the present instead of worrying about the future.

In fact, the image Takarion created didn't have many downsides.

The many refugees in Talian's domain feared the black dragon's attack more than anyone.

But if a famous wizard like Ian (famous for faith rather than magic, which was funny) was holding the line, they could feel safe and rely on him.

Ian didn't want the domain to fall into chaos either.

"Waaah!"

Accompanying the Knights of Santiago, Ian waved to the refugees.

"You're quite popular, Ian," Salvador remarked.

"The Knights of Santiago are too."

The knights naturally left Talian's domain and strolled through the fields.

"What is it?"

"The human being chased by the monsters! It's that old lady wizard we met before!"

"... What?"

Ian immediately grabbed the reins of his horse, stopping his sightseeing.

"Sir Salvador! The person being chased right now! It's Herbalist Mani!"

"Is that true?"

There was no time to hesitate. Ian rushed out with the knights.

'There's so many?'

Ian was surprised by the much larger number of orcs than he expected as he approached the horde.

40? 50?

That was about the size of a force a small barony could muster!

"Ian, my boy!" Salvador shouted.

"A head-on battle is dangerous! There will surely be casualties!"

Salvador usually used words like 'perilous' or 'mortal danger', but.

That was just part of his speeches to boost morale, not because he was a crazy old man who actually welcomed casualties.

Naturally, it was best to avoid people dying.

No matter how strong the Knights of Santiago were, charging headlong into a horde of over 40 orcs would be insane.

Ian chose magic without hesitation.

He calmly surveyed his surroundings, listening for the voice of mystery.

The gentle breeze, the quietly sleeping earth.

Pure white clouds and the lazy afternoon sunlight...

'Disgustingly peaceful.'

The mysteries were focused on their own tasks, uninterested in human actions.

It wasn't a good day for magic.

A less skilled wizard would cleanly give up here and exclaim, 'No magic today! Guess it's not the right day~'

But Ian was, by his own assessment, a fairly decent wizard.

Even if the mysteries weren't interested in humans.

He was a wizard of the caliber that could appeal to their past friendship and draw the mysteries' attention.

Ian called upon his old friend.

"[O Darkness!]"

[Ugh. Hello? Ian?]

[It's a nice day! Except it's too bright!]

The sun was still blazing in the sky.

Dark magic was difficult to exert its full power.

But with Ian's level 5 dark magic, he could control darkness sufficiently even during the day.

"[Dance!]"

[Casting dark magic - Shadow Manipulation.]

The magic Ian chose was [Shadow Manipulation].

As Ian's magic was cast.

The shadows beneath the orcs' feet began to move of their own accord, as if they had gained consciousness.

"???"

"W-woargh?!"

The [Shadow Manipulation] spell didn't have functions like binding the original body or stabbing the person next to you.

It just... made shadows move.

But the orcs fell into mass panic at the sight they were seeing for the first time in their lives.

My perfectly normal shadow... suddenly starts going berserk?

If nothing else, it's scary!

Not knowing the cause of the moving shadows, the orcs would do their best to return the shadows to 'normal'.

And most 'returning' actions start with stopping whatever you're doing.

So the terrified orcs all froze in place.

They didn't know what would happen to their shadows if they kept running!

"Oh! As expected of Sir Ian!" one knight exclaimed.

"Magic is truly wondrous!" another added.

The ignorant knights didn't really understand how Ian had stopped the orcs.

But it didn't matter.

The fact that he caused large-scale confusion remained unchanged.

"Ian!!!" a familiar voice called out.

While the orcs were flustered, the escapees joined up with the Knights of Santiago.

It was Herbalist Mani and the knights who had gone to fetch her.

"I'm so happy to see you I could cry! You clever boy!"

Mani broke into a wide smile as soon as she saw Ian.

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