From Nainiae, Riley heard about what was going on in the Magic Tower’s basement, and he came to this place to confirm if there were really human experiments taking place here.
Although he couldn’t confirm the human experiments yet, there was something else that he found.
‘To think that they are making narcotics…’
Narcotics.
It was a terrifying substance that could make people become dependent on it from using it only once or twice. The substance could destroy the lives of these people because of addiction.
All of this grass piled up here was narcotic.
“What’s this? I was wondering what kind of rat you were…”
Astroa noticed the mask that Riley wore and in reaction, started to have a blood vein bulge on his forehead.
The air in the basement started to shake, and the pile of wooden crates also vibrated even though there wasn’t anyone touching them.
Astroa was about to explode out of anger.
“Why are you so angry?”
After slightly altering his voice with mana, Riley asked Astroa.
Hearing Riley’s easygoing tone of voice, Astroa tightened his fist and took another step forward.
With his glare, Astroa was daring Riley to say one more word.
“Since you sent me a present, all I have done was return your good will, so what’s the problem here?”
“…”
Riley was talking about the incident in the Main Plaza where he divided the fireball launched at him from the sky into three pieces and sent one back to Astroa.
“I’m with the kind of personality where I always return the favor in folds, so I paid you back in twofold. I wonder if…you received my ‘gift’ well.”
Riley directed his gaze toward Astroa’s arm.
Judging from how there was a blood stain on the thickly wrapped bandages on his arm, it appeared that Astroa certainly had received the gift that Riley threw at him, although it looked pretty painful.
“Um. It looks like you took it pretty well.”
“…You runt!”
Astroa glared at Riley as if he was trying to punch a hole through Riley with his gaze, but then his shoulders twitched.
It was because Astroa noticed the narcotics that Riley was holding in his hand.
“Ah, this?”
Riley continued as he shook the pieces of grass he was holding in his hand,
“This is yours, right? Astroa the Grand Mage, sir?”
“…”
“This, isn’t this banned in Solia? I’m right, aren’t I?”
Astroa, unable to answer, only gritted his teeth.
Noticing Astroa’s lips twitching, Riley continued on,
“Actually, I came to dig around about something else…but this… I think people will flip out when they hear about this. Don’t you think?”
Riley tossed the pieces of grass he was holding into a wooden crate. As he lightly tapped the crate with the side of his foot, he looked back toward Nainiae and said,
“You know this friend of ours too, don’t you?”
Eventually, having discovered Nainiae’s presence, Astroa’s face turned red as if he was about to tear her apart immediately.
“You b*tch… How dare…”
“I’m just…”
As if she was remembering the times she had to take unknown drugs from him, she was shivering and gradually becoming stiff like a stone. In front of her, Riley stepped in,
“You are the one who abandoned her, and you didn’t even do anything to take care of what came afterwards, so for you to act like this now, aren’t you being a little petty? Aren’t you supposed to be the grand mage of the Magic Tower?”
Riley may be a highly skilled swordsman, but nobody could be gutsier than the gallantry being displayed by this masked man.
In light of Riley casually carrying on a conversation with a grand mage that represents a city, Astroa’s fingers twitched as he asked Riley,
“You runt… Who are you?”
At the same time, as if he just completed a spell by fidgeting his lips earlier, what appeared to be tiny white particles started to form behind him.
It was Snow Flurry, a mid-level ice element attack magic. It was a magic that could cut with its particles in the wind or freeze things solid.
It was also a magic that was difficult to keep in check with a sword.
“Um…”
After intentionally turning his head to look at Nainiae, who was standing behind him, Riley gave the same answer that he heard from her a while ago,
“… I have no reason to explain something like that to you.”
As if he concluded that further inquiries were meaningless, Astroa scrunched his face violently and swung his arm to attack.
To be precise, he tried to.