Chapter 122 - Punishment (1)

Gracie hurried to the door to meet her grandparents.

“Oh! Gracie!”

The moment her grandmother saw her, she pulled her into a relieved embrace.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Her grandfather, too, looked at her with worry in his eyes.

“I’m fine. But Grandpa, Grandma, why are you here...?”

“Why, because we heard our lovely granddaughter was back at the Mage Tower.”

“We heard you fought a lich. Are you really all right? You haven’t been afflicted with some terrible curse, have you?”

“Grad and Niall are at work right now, so they couldn’t come with us.”

Grad and Niall were the names of Gracie’s father and mother.

“I-I told you everything before I left.”

“Yes, you told us! But you said you were going with the Saintess to find the slime the lich had kidnapped.”

“You never said you would fight the lich!”

“The funding is important, of course, but your safety matters more to us.”

When Gracie’s family first heard the news about her, they nearly died of fright. They had thought she was merely following the Saintess to search for clues to the slime’s whereabouts. It had never even occurred to them that a lich would be so easy to encounter.

But the news that reached them said that Gracie had actually defeated the lich alongside the Saintess and Nellin, the Starlight Archer. What was more, Saintess Fresia, one of the legendary heroes, had lost her life in the battle. They could only fret over whether Gracie had emerged safely from a fight fierce enough to kill even a hero.

‘I never imagined I’d end up fighting the lich myself back then, either...’

Gracie thought it was only natural for her grandparents to be alarmed.

“What a truly heartwarming sight.”

Paulen stepped in to help Gracie, who was at a loss before her worried grandparents.

“I fully understand your concern for Miss Gracie. But she has returned safe and sound, as you can see. Might we first rejoice in that?”

“You are...?”

“Forgive my late introduction. I am Paulen, a Paladin.”

“A-a Paladin!”

“To think we would meet the Paladin who guards the Saintess in person...”

“The pleasure of meeting Miss Gracie’s family is mine. She proved herself an excellent mage, every bit Lord Ventus’s equal.”

“F-for you to speak so highly of her!”

“Thank you.”

“G-Grandpa! Grandma!”

Their sudden expressions of gratitude left Gracie utterly flustered.

“Oh, you’re Ventus’s older cousin, right?”

Nellin joined the conversation.

“L-Lady Nellin!”

“A legendary hero, right before my eyes... Dear, I think my heart’s about to stop.”

“Pull yourself together, old man!”

“Don’t just stand there. Come on in. At your age, standing too long will hurt your knees.”

At Nellin’s invitation, Gracie’s grandparents entered the room and sat on a bed. Only then did they get a look at everyone in the room, and their eyes settled on Squishy, who had climbed onto the bed with Def.

“Hmm? Could that slime be... Gracie, is that the slime you were looking for?”

“Yes, Grandma. That’s the slime I was looking for. Its name is Squishy.”

“Squishy? Not Quivery?”

“Oh, well... Squishy used to be called by other names, actually. We decided it would get confusing if we all used different names, so we agreed to call it Squishy.”

“I see. Well, that’s wonderful. Not only did you defeat the lich, you got the slime back, too.”

Having confirmed that Gracie was safe and that the slime she had been seeking had also been recovered unharmed, her grandparents rose from the bed.

“We’ll be off, then.”

“We’ll explain everything to your mother and father.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“You have guests with you. We may be old, but we can still take a hint.”

“Besides, you’re busy right now, aren’t you? You have to meet the master of the Mage Tower and all the other important people here.”

Gracie’s grandmother placed a hand on her shoulder.

“This is a good opportunity to earn recognition at the Mage Tower. Show them that you can make a difference even if you mainly use magical devices. Show them what a wonderful mage our granddaughter is.”

“Oh... Yes, Grandma!”

With a kindly smile, Niall Frail removed her hand from Gracie’s shoulder and turned to Nellin.

“Lady Nellin, may I ask you something?”

“What is it? Ask away.”

“Ventus... What sort of mage was that boy when he traveled with you?”

“Isn’t that obvious? He was a fucking awesome mage.”

Nellin gave her a thumbs-up and even a wink as she answered, and Niall Frail laughed in genuine delight.

“Ho ho ho! Truly... I couldn’t have asked for a better answer.”

The touching sight filled the room with warmth.

The chat, however, was another story.

▶So, suuuper awesome mage Ventus Smartass, how are you feeling right now?

▶Knife-ear certified! Signed and sealed! Does this make Smartass a knife-ear-brand lich now?

[Free Spirit]▶Just shut up.

▶LMAOOOO

▶That Smartass bastard lol. First time I’ve seen him get so triggered.

To the viewers, the very person being praised was their moderator, so even a heartwarming scene was nothing more than material for teasing him.

▶Whyyy? Shouldn’t the awesome Lord Ventus be more forgiving?

▶[I Love Mockery! has been kicked.]

▶shudder

▶Oh, he’s pissed.

▶Ruuun for your liiiives!

Of course, with the teasing of the moderator continuing, someone was bound to feel the banhammer immediately.

+++

Brooks Besilza received some unbelievable news.

“Is that true? Even the slime the lich took that day is with them?”

“Yes, without a doubt.”

Brooks Besilza, sunk in grief over the loss of his beard and devising ways to deny the Frail family its funding, had heard something entirely unexpected.

To think they had even recovered the slime kidnapped by the lich!

Anyone else would have assumed the slime simply hadn’t been mentioned in the earlier report because it wasn’t particularly important. To Brooks Besilza, however, it was a matter of great importance. For right now, at this very moment, he had acquired a goal more important than blocking the Frail family’s funding.

‘That slime! That loathsome slime must be destroyed, no matter what!’

Brooks Besilza had not forgotten a single thing about that day, especially not a word spoken by the lich who had robbed him of his beard.

And the reason the lich had appeared at the Mage Tower?

The slime said to possess unusual mana!

‘If it weren’t for that slime! If it weren’t for that slime, I would never have lost my beard!’

The lich who had suddenly appeared and destroyed his beard simply because he disliked it was no longer in this world.

That made the slime that had drawn the lich there the most deserving target of his hatred!

It didn’t matter if the slime was the Saintess and the Paladin’s pet monster.

‘The enemy of my beard! As long as I can avenge this grudge, none of that matters! I will! I absolutely will destroy it!’

But there were far too many obstacles to achieving that. Targeting and destroying only the slime would be difficult with not just the Saintess and the Paladin present, but their heroic companion, the Starlight Archer, as well. Master of the Mage Tower though he was, Brooks Besilza was not powerful enough to destroy the slime while fighting all of them.

‘A way, a way, a way, a way! I need to find a way! The surest option would be to face that slime alone... Wait. Alone?’

A certain spell came to Brooks Besilza’s mind. It was recorded in Ventus Frail’s magical research notes—the notes Brooks had stolen after disguising Ventus’s death as a magical accident.

At first, he had intended to destroy them, believing that not a single trace of Ventus Frail should remain. But the spells recorded within were far too enticing to a mage for him to bring himself to do it.

Yet those magical research notes were humiliation incarnate to Brooks Besilza.

Because he had to use the spells Ventus Frail had left behind?

No.

The humiliation lay in his inability to use Ventus Frail’s spells.

All of them were unfinished: rough directions, the effects they would produce if successful, and basic formulas for constructing them. There were no completed formulas. To cast the spells, he had to use those basic formulas as a foundation and pursue research in the proposed direction.

At first, he had believed he could complete them in no time and announce them as spells of his own invention. Despite that confidence, his attempts failed time and again. Each failure forced him to confront the gap in talent and skill between himself and the other mage, making the notes the very embodiment of humiliation.

Even so, there was one.

One spell had been so irresistible that Brooks Besilza had doggedly pursued it all this time and brought it close to completion.

That spell was...

‘Teleportation magic.’

A spell that moved its target to specified coordinates.

+++

After Gracie’s grandparents left, Amelia asked her a question.

“Miss Gracie, aren’t you going to pass on Lord Ventus’s message?”

“I don’t think now is the right time. I’ll tell her... after the whole truth about Lord Ventus comes to light.”

Gracie thought revealing it now would only confuse her grandmother.

Thirty minutes later, the Mage Tower finally sent someone with a message. He began by asking them to attend a banquet that had been arranged for that evening, then requested, if it wasn’t too much trouble, that they recount their battle with the lich.

“In particular, we would like to know exactly what spells the lich used! Did it use the same magic as us? Or spells it had developed independently? What sort of spells were they? Their effects, range, power—please...”

“Yes, yes. We’ll be there, and we’ll tell you then, so wait. Hearing it all here beforehand would spoil the fun, wouldn’t it?”

“I enjoy hearing things beforehand, too...”

Gracie stepped in front of the mage, who showed no sign of backing down, his eyes shining with scholarly curiosity.

“You’re imposing on Lady Nellin now. Please leave.”

“Ugh...”

When Gracie blocked his way, the mage serving as messenger briefly scowled. He, too, had always looked down on her for being a magical-device mage.

‘It’s not as though you could have done anything worthwhile beside those heroes anyway...’

The very idea that Gracie had contributed to the battle with the lich never crossed his mind. At most, he imagined, she had flung out some trivial spells or blasts from magical devices. It would have been a relief if she hadn’t gotten in the heroes’ way.

“Listen, Gracie. I’m speaking to the others right now...”

“You are imposing. Would you leave?”

Nellin draped an arm around Gracie’s shoulders.

“L-Lady Nellin?”

“Well now, our talented mage put that veeery nicely. It’s better to brag in front of a crowd. How can you be so oblivious that you don’t understand that? Hmm?”

“T-talented mage?”

Nellin went on, stroking Gracie’s hair.

“That’s right. Gracie counteracted the lich’s spells several times, which made fighting it so much easier. I’ll be telling that story in veeery great detail at the banquet, too. So stop lingering and go about your business.”

“Ugh... P-pardon me.”

After the mage left, Nellin scoffed.

“Hmph. Who does he think he is, looking down on my companion right in front of me? Arrogant little fool.”

“Lady Nellin...”

“Gracie, don’t let people like that intimidate you.”

Nellin gave Gracie a couple of pats on the head.

“I’m not joking. You really did wonderfully.”

“Oh!”

Nellin looked as though tears were about to well up in her eyes.

▶Daaamn, the fucking awesome Ventus Smartass has a fucking awesome descendant, toooo.

▶[Anonymous 2903 has been kicked.]

▶LMAOOOO

▶Knew someone wouldn’t be able to resist lol.