-Warm Bread
* * *
The work of clearing out the remaining chimeras ended so quickly it was almost anticlimactic.
Since it was nighttime, and there had even been a blackout, I’d expected fighting outside in the pitch darkness to be no easy matter, but that wasn’t the case.
When we went outside, the chimeras didn’t seem used to the dark either; they were merely wandering around in confusion.
Even apart from that, their movements and appearances were somehow feeble, as if the chimeras that remained were nothing but dregs.
Though they surrounded the school, they apparently had no ability to break through the barrier, and were only circling around it.
We rushed out in all four directions at once and took them down in an instant.
“It’s over.”
“This was much simpler than I expected.”
“Didn’t all of them look kind of weak?”
“Right? They seemed drained.”
The gray energy around the chimeras had definitely weakened.
It made me think Nasanhaegyeong had already left Chinatown.
“The clearing is over, but purification remains. The energy of disease may still be lingering, so we need to purify the entire Chinatown district.”
I said.
Even if the gray energy had grown markedly weaker, we couldn’t skip the purification.
If we wanted the residents to return home and regain their daily lives, we had to prepare for any possible danger.
We couldn’t allow chimeras to appear again.
“It’ll probably take quite some time to purify the entire Chinatown district, so shall we do it tomorrow morning? Cheon Danbi must be exhausted too…”
Yu Jaeseon said, looking back at Cheon Danbi.
He still didn’t know that I could use purification magic.
“No. I’ll do it. With purification magic. And like the clearing, we’ll finish the purification in one go. If all of you lend me your strength, it should be possible.”
“What? Purification magic? You’re going to purify all of Chinatown at once?”
After giving Yu Jaeseon, who was staring at me in bewilderment, a smile, I led all the mages up to the hill where Jayu Park was located.
From there, we could look down over all of Chinatown, so it was a good place to assess the situation.
“Wow! You can see all of Chinatown from here. But Oudine, what should we do? We don’t know how to use purification magic.”
Thor asked while looking at the scenery below.
I looked around at everyone and answered.
“Don’t worry. Just send me mana. Everyone, please send your mana to me. And Gil, stand beside me and extend concentric waves of mana.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
“I’m ready!”
“I’ll begin the purification now.”
I closed my eyes and focused my mind.
Using spatial magic and purification magic at the same time required a high degree of concentration.
And a great deal of mana as well. That was why I’d asked the other mages to send me mana.
I intended to partition the entire Chinatown district with spatial magic and purify it all at once.
It was a way of casting magic I’d never tried before, but I felt as though it would be possible. I could feel that the more I used both spatial magic and purification magic, the more my ability improved.
‘Waves of space, tremble together as I command!’
‘Sacred waves, bring forth the energy of purification!’
As I raised my intent, I spread both arms wide.
White light activated within my embrace and spread out in an instant like mist.
Seeing the magic activate, the mages sent mana to me all at once. Gil immediately raised concentric waves of mana.
Riding along those concentric circles, waves of white light stretched farther and farther.
The energy of purification flowed onward, surging like waves.
“Ohhh!”
“That’s incredible.”
“Amazing!”
While the energy of purification spread widely across the Chinatown district, something astonishing happened.
The white light grew brighter and brighter until, at last, it shone a dazzling pure white. All around us became as bright as broad daylight.
In the end, it was so bright we couldn’t keep our eyes open.
Soon, when the purification was complete and the white light began to fade, I saw that Chinatown’s nightscape had changed.
The lights that had gone out in the blackout had returned.
“What? You even ended the blackout? Now this is what I call the triumph of light!”
“Oh! Impressive. The dark magic that caused the blackout was washed away by purification magic?”
“You truly are outstanding. How is such magic even possible…?”
“Mage, you were amazing!”
There was something that made me happier than my companions’ noisy praise.
Even after activating spatial magic and purification magic at the same time, I felt no sense of exhaustion.
It was partly because the mages had supplemented my mana, but that wasn’t all.
I could definitely feel that my magical ability had improved.
“I still have plenty of strength left. Then shall we head to the next site?”
When I said it like a joke, laughter immediately burst out from everyone.
“What did you say?”
“Oh, come on!”
“Are you showing off right now?”
Thinking that the clearing of Chinatown was completely over, the mages could rejoice with bright expressions.
But in truth, everyone also knew that what I’d said wasn’t entirely a joke.
The terror attack was still ongoing at Incheon Airport, and there was also the matter of the other races who had smuggled themselves in.
There was still a great deal of night left, and everyone knew this would not be a night where we could comfortably go to bed and rest.
“Now, let’s head down.”
We slowly walked down the hill.
Only cleanup remained in Chinatown now, so we could leave it to the police. Yu Jaeseon and An Guktae decided to stay behind and help finish things up.
Thor, Balder, and Heimdall said they wanted to go to Incheon Airport.
“We should hurry and help finish the clearing there too. That way, we can get on a plane and return to our home country, can’t we?”
“True. That’s a good idea. Are you going straight to the airport now?”
“Yeah. What about you, Oudine?”
“Go to the airport first. Our team will check on the dwarf district in Wolmido and follow after you.”
“Okay! Then we’ll meet at Incheon Airport.”
In front of the Chinese school, we split up in our respective directions.
Our team headed toward where we had parked the car.
As we walked, I called Yantu, and only after quite some time did he pick up.
[Mage! What’s going on?]
A rough voice spoke so loudly it felt like it would tear my ear apart.
“Why are you talking so loudly? Lower your voice. What are you doing right now?”
[Ah, sorry. I was in battle until just a moment ago. I’m a little excited, that’s all.]
The voice of someone who claimed he had been in battle until just a moment ago sounded extremely thrilled. Anyone listening would think he’d been to a party, not a battle.
“What battle? Did you fight humans with guns?”
[How did you know? Those Chinatown underground organization bastards had the nerve to storm this place. So we gave them a proper beating. Hahaha!]
From what he told me, just as expected, the underground organization’s people were no match for the dwarves.
He said they had blocked everything with their defensive system when the attackers tried to force their way in while firing guns. Barriers must have spread out, and clods of earth must have flown through the sky.
In any case, after that, like civilized people, they reported the bastards to the police and had them hauled off nice and easily.
Even though a terror attack by dark mages was taking place, the state system was still functioning.
“Well done. Then there are no problems?”
[None at all. It’s very peaceful here. No chimeras came either.]
“That’s a relief. I was thinking of stopping by Wolmido for a moment, but I guess I don’t need to.”
[You came all the way to Incheon and you’re just going to leave? Without even seeing my face?]
“You miss me? Then come to Incheon Port. I have something to detect there, so I’ll be stopping by for a moment. This works out well. Bring your best detection equipment.”
[Incheon Port? Why there now? Did something happen?]
“I’ll tell you when you get here.”
And so we met Yantu at Incheon Port.
Just as I’d told him, Yantu was holding detection equipment in his hands, and a crow was flying above his head.
Ren had been watching and had followed after Yantu.
“Yantu! Long time no see.”
“Mage! Even seeing you again, I’m not happy at all. You’ve been so busy running around everywhere that you weren’t even the least bit curious about an old man like me, were you?”
“There’s a barb in your words.”
“What barb? Anyway, who are these people?”
I introduced Gil and Cheon Danbi to Yantu.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Cheon Danbi.”
“Hello. I’m Gil.”
“You’re on the Mage’s team? You’ve all had it rough. I can see without even looking how nasty the Mage must be to you.”
“Stop talking nonsense and come this way.”
I led Yantu and the others to a secluded spot.
After confirming there were no people around, I beckoned to Ren.
“Old man Yantu, it’s time to meet the cat that ran away from home.”
“What? You mean Lily?”
Ren flew down, transformed back into her true form, and greeted Yantu.
“Sir, it’s me. I’m sorry I left without saying anything back then.”
“Goodness, it really is Ren! Have you been well? Are you traveling with the Mage now? Yes, that might be safer. The Mage will protect you well, I’m sure. If he doesn’t, come straight to me. I’ll twist the Mage’s nose right off.”
Yantu was extremely delighted to see Ren. Anyone watching might have thought she was his own daughter.
I was glad he was happy and all, but I was dumbfounded as to why he was talking about twisting my perfectly innocent nose.
After talking with Yantu, Ren returned to the form of a crow.
We were out in the open on all sides, so we had to be careful, since we never knew when someone might appear.
“Now, let’s do the detection. I heard that thousands of lizardmen and orcs smuggled themselves into the country through Incheon Port earlier. What do you think? Can you find their traces? There are so many of them that I feel like we could find them just by smell.”
“Smuggling again? But thousands? That many? What in the world is going on? Anyway, of course I can find them. Wait a moment.”
Yantu opened the detection device and activated it.
I also quietly activated detection magic beside him. Though if they were other races with little mana, it would be difficult to find them with detection magic.
But as soon as I activated the magic, lines of detection stretched out in all directions and tangled together chaotically.
Just as I had suspected, traces of gray energy were detected.
“Whoa, there really are a lot. And I’m detecting the energy of dark magic too. Looks like ordinary lizardmen and orcs didn’t come in. But they’re scattered all over the place. What now?”
“Right. They’re showing up on my detection magic too. Good work, Yantu. I’ll take it from here and track them down myself.”
“That’s it?”
“They moved by truck, so they must have gone far already. We’re done with what we need to do here. Now we’ll have to chase them by car.”
The truth was, the reason I’d told Yantu to come here wasn’t so much because I needed him for detection, but because I wanted him to meet Ren.
Perhaps Yantu realized that too, because he folded up the detection device and put it away.
“We part as soon as we meet again. Then I’ll take this back and analyze it. Looks like you mages are going to have it rough again…”
Muttering, Yantu took a thick bundle of something out of his bag.
“Here, it’s cornbread. It’s very tasty. All of you, eat some. You probably haven’t even been able to eat properly while doing these clearings.”
“Wow! Cornbread? Thank you! I was hungry anyway.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Cheon Danbi brightened and quickly accepted the bread.
Seeing Gil bow his head in thanks first as well, it seemed he felt the same way.
“Thanks. Take care. Keep your village well defended. It’s a world where you never know what monsters might come barging in.”
“Don’t you worry. Then all of you, take care of your health. Keep at it!”
Unexpectedly, we parted ways with Yantu while holding warm bread in our hands.