Chapter 40: Accumulated Magic and Yakiniku Night
Shooing away the birds and startling the wild animals, it moved. The grown creature was now the size of a small tornado. However, it remained invisible and made no sound.
As its size increased, its speed also slightly increased. Absorbing the magical energy from the fertile land of Sloane territory, the thick golden pillar grew thicker, and as a result, its height gradually increased.
Thanks to the abundant magical energy of Sloane territory, there were more magic users among the residents compared to other territories. Upon receiving news of the damage in the capital, there was time in Sloane territory to inform the residents about the incident of magical energy depletion. However, even if magic-using residents took shelter inside their homes, those with stronger magical abilities suffered from the effects of magical energy depletion.
Lord Conrad Sloane gathered his wife, children, and magic-using servants in the stone basement. As a precaution in case someone lost consciousness, a few non-magic-using servants were also accompanying them.
“Husband, aren’t you going to use the magical barrier?”
“If we use magic, it might attract it instead. Let’s wait for it to pass by like this.”
Fortunately, Conrad’s manor seemed to be off the route, and nothing happened. While listening to the information about magical energy depletion coming in one after another from the servants, Conrad marked the points of damage on the map and waited for the moment when the affected areas passed by.
The next day, news of the damage came from various places. Although there were several cases of magical energy depletion, there were no fatalities. Conrad breathed a sigh of relief and climbed up to the lookout tower.
“I still can’t see anything with my own eyes.”
As he was about to give up and descend from the lookout tower, he realized that he couldn’t hear the usually noisy bird chirping at all. He noticed that he was enveloped in an unprecedented silence.
“What an eerie silence. Something definitely passed by. Now, where did that something go?”
Although it was not visible to Lord Conrad Sloane, the golden tornado was a few kilometers away.
By the time it reached the edge of Sloane territory, the upper part of the magical tornado had reached the height of the clouds, and the absorbed magical energy had begun to form cloud-like accumulations of magic in the sky.
The magical accumulation, several hundred meters in diameter, rotated like a typhoon while being accompanied by the silent tornado. In the land beneath the magical accumulation, all the animals and birds had already fled, and the forest was eerily quiet.
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Sumner Territory’s town of Deals. From the perspective of Sloane Territory, it is a border town located beyond Heartfield Territory.
“Haru, the strawberry-flavored gelato is sold out.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Pauline-san. Take it easy now.”
“Haru, we’re running out of toppings for the rice porridge.”
“Oh, Victor, did you put too much topping?”
“Is that so? Sorry about that.”
We live a very ordinary life. The so-called “magic depletion epidemic” posted on the bulletin board hasn’t occurred here in the town of Deals.
“How about having steak tonight? It’ll cheer you up, Pauline-san.”
“Oh, how delightful. I’ll have plenty of garlic and salt, please.”
“I’ll have salt and chopped onions.”
“Understood, understood. Shall we choose the meat at the butcher’s on our way back? I wonder what flavor Cyril-san likes.”
Then, Pauline-san, with a slightly embarrassed expression, tells me,
“He seems to like it with plenty of butter, less salt, and served with potatoes.”
Ara?
(When did they have such a conversation?) I smile and gaze at Pauline, finding it endearing.
“It just happened. We happened to talk about the doneness of steak.”
She blushes.
The sight of Cyril-san, who used to dislike humans, and Pauline-san, who has been secluded in the castle for twenty years, getting along so well is always heartwarming. I hope they end up together, but I’m careful not to say anything unnecessary.
“Haru, do you have any preferences for seasoning steak?”
“Hmm, I think the same as Victor. Just salt and chopped onions.”
“Oh, talking about it is making me hungry.”
“Yeah, let’s head home soon. We’ll buy lots of meat. And let’s get some chicken for Kuro.”
To make Pauline-san, who seemed a little down, laugh, I chatted more than usual. Victor also joined in. Our life was peaceful, and I wished it could continue like this forever.
At night, we lit a charcoal fire in the brick stove in the garden and grilled the meat. The sizzling fat burned, filling the air with smoke and a delicious aroma. The four of us chatted while drinking wine.
Cyril-san was working on renovating his family’s house, and before we knew it, the wallpaper had been replaced and the doorknobs had been changed to stylish ones. I admired how effortlessly he could handle these things and praised Cyril-san while grilling meat with Pauline-san.
I bought chicken for Kuro, so I called him over. However, Kuro just puffed up his tail like a brush and kept fluttering around, paying no attention to the chicken.
“What’s wrong, Kuro?”
“Meow meow!”
Kuro seemed restless.
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