At the same time, she felt a clear and cool body scent through the tip of her nose. It was a refreshing breeze.
Barely coming to her senses, Karina opened her eyes and looked up at the man holding her.
A small face could be seen through the hood that was pulled down deeply.
A straight forehead, a high nose, a sharp jawline...
The man had distinct features and even his skin was smooth and transparent like porcelain.
However, what was most attractive was his mysterious silver hair that shone softly like moonlight and his red and captivating eyes.
‘Wow...!’
Karina was purely amazed by the man’s flawless appearance.
She felt a strange charm from him that made it impossible to take her eyes off him.
However, apart from his handsome appearance, he was an unfamiliar face.
‘But who is he?’
She was surprised and embarrassed at the same time by the warmth of the man’s arms that she was seeing for the first time.
“An explosion in a crowded market...”
Barely coming to her senses, Karina opened her eyes and looked up at the man holding her.
A small face could be seen through the hood that was pulled down deeply.
A straight forehead, a high nose, a sharp jawline...
The man had distinct features and even his skin was smooth and transparent like porcelain.
However, what was most attractive was his mysterious silver hair that shone softly like moonlight and his red and captivating eyes.
‘Wow...!’
Karina was purely amazed by the man’s flawless appearance.
She felt a strange charm from him that made it impossible to take her eyes off him.
However, apart from his handsome appearance, he was an unfamiliar face.
‘But who is he?’
She was surprised and embarrassed at the same time by the warmth of the man’s arms that she was seeing for the first time.
“An explosion in a crowded market...”
Even his calm mutterings had a mysterious charm.
Karina, who had been quietly watching him, opened her mouth.
“Over there...”
He lowered his head at Karina’s call. His long eyelashes and mysterious eyes were as beautiful as if they were painted.
‘Oh my... His eyes are like jewels.’
She thought that his red eyes were very pretty. Karina, who had been blankly staring at his eyes, suddenly came to her senses.
“Oh, can you let go now?”
Although she was grateful that he had blocked the dust, it was awkward to continue being held by a strange man.
However, despite her request, the silver-haired man pretended to be troubled.
“Um, I would like to, but the situation is not favorable.”
“Not favorable?”
It was at that very moment.
Kwaang!
“...!”
Another ear-splitting roar and an explosion occurred.
It was larger than before.
And this time, it was close.
Crimson flames rose as if they were going to swallow up the sky.
As the heat of the explosion swept through, the stone fragments that had been flying into the air soon began to rain down like hail.
The destructive power of the stone fragments that flew high into the air and fell was beyond imagination.
The stalls and items that had been hit by the falling stone rain were shattered into pieces.
“Hmm, I don’t know who that is, but their magic control is really messed up.”
The silver-haired man grumbled softly and extended his hand.
“Scatter.”
With his soft muttering,
whoosh!
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind rose and pushed away the debris pouring down above their heads.
‘A wizard?’
There was only one being who could artificially create natural phenomena like wind.
A wizard who manipulates magic.
As if responding to his light gesture, a gust of wind blew and pushed away even the remaining dust clouds.
“It’s okay now.”
Karina, who had finally escaped the man’s embrace, brushed off the dust from her clothes.
Thanks to his magic, there was almost no dust on her clothes.
‘What a truly amazing ability. First of all, I should at least say thank you.'
Karina raised her head and looked at the man.
"Thank you."
He smiled silently at her words of gratitude.
'More than that, what on earth is going on?'
An explosion of this scale, not even on a battlefield. It was not ordinary.
As expected. Soon, the voices of surprised people were heard.
"What, where did the explosion come from?"
"Prison! There was an explosion in the prison that held criminals. It's a prison break!"
"Prison break? What kind of guys... did this outrageous thing happen!"
"Catch them. The criminals are escaping!"
People's screams could be heard from all directions.
Prison, explosion, prison break.
Karina recalled the reports she had heard from the knights next to Jeremiah on her way here.
They were talking about people who had come from out of town causing all sorts of trouble.
'I don't know who they are, but they seem to have caused a big problem.'
They caused this kind of commotion in order to escape. Did they know what kind of place the North was?
She was thinking about the explosion and the prison break.
“Escapees? Are you talking about them?”
The silver-haired man’s gaze was focused on a certain place.
When Karina turned her gaze to where he was looking, she saw that a serious situation was unfolding.
A half-destroyed building engulfed in flames.
Men in prison uniforms were rushing out of the building that looked like a prison.
“Stop! If you don’t stop, I’ll use force.”
“They’re knights. Run away!”
A fierce fight broke out between the fleeing prisoners and the knights who rushed to subdue them.
“It looks like the escapees are coming this way.”
The problem was that the dozen or so escaped criminals were running straight toward Karina. They seemed to be planning to hide in the chaotic market.
“The situation doesn’t look good.”
The man who had been observing the situation turned to Karina and continued.
“It would be best to avoid them for now.”
“No. You don’t have to do that.”
He pointed ahead with a puzzled expression at Karina’s calm answer.
“Can’t you see those guys? They’re even holding gruesome weapons.”
Just as he had said, the escapees were armed with weapons like knives and axes, no matter where they got them.
The momentum was so fierce that they looked ready to cut anyone in their path in two.
However, Karina was actually calm even after seeing them.
This was because a tall man wearing black armor was walking towards the escapees.
If the unfamiliar man next to her felt like a pure white snowfield, then the man wearing black armor gave off an atmosphere like a night sky dyed in pitch-black darkness. His leisurely movements as if he had just come out for a walk, made him look like an elegant black panther.
“Do you know him?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
The silver-haired man tilted his head at Karina’s ambiguous answer.
Karina frowned slightly and muttered.
“If he keeps doing that, he’ll be in big trouble...”
The silver-haired man nodded and replied.
“That’s right. There are too many for him to handle alone, so he needs to go and stop them quickly...”
“I’m talking about the escapees. They’re rushing at him without fear. They must be risking their lives.”
“...Yes?”
Hearing the silver-haired man’s questioning voice, Karina turned her gaze to Jeremiah.
Too many for one person to handle?
That was a story that only applied to ordinary people.
Jeremiah Colesberg.
The Grand Duke of the Colesberg family with great honor and the lord of the North.
There was another name for him who protected the frozen permafrost.
The strongest sword in the empire.
A victorious ruler with an undefeated record.
Three years later, a mythical reputation that no citizen of the empire would not know.
Of course, not many people knew of his skills yet.
This was before the incident where he slaughtered all the demons who were approaching like a swarm of ants with just a single sword.
“What? Do you want to die?”
“Get out of the way!”
The escapees screamed and rushed at Jeremiah.
Despite the threat of the escapees who surged in like waves, Jeremiah remained calm.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
The man who had been watching the situation asked again.
“Of course.”
Karina nodded again this time.
Then, a question suddenly occurred to him.
'Come to think of it, why am I being polite to this man?'
She felt that it was because he had helped her in a dangerous situation.
At that moment...
"Die!"
"Crush him!"
The escapees swung their weapons at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, who had been walking slowly, reacted at that very moment.
Swish.
The sword revealed itself from the scabbard on Jeremiah's waist.
The dazzling flash of the sword reflecting in the sunlight made it seem as if a halo of light was pouring down. The surrounding noises, the gray dust, the ear-splitting screams, the hissing sounds from all directions. As if time had stopped, all the flow and noise disappeared.
In the distant silence as if they had fallen into deep water, only Jeremiah's sword emitted a silver flash.
Crunch.
A short and concise noise echoed in the suffocating silence.
Clink.
The bright light that had been drawing a splendid trajectory along the sword disappeared in an instant.
That was the end.
Thud. Thud.
The escapees who seemed ready to slash Jeremiah at any moment fell down helplessly like puppets with their strings cut off.
There wasn't even the usual scream.
When Karina came to her senses, there was only one person standing at the scene.
Jeremiah Colesberg.
That was the only man.
No one could defeat him with a sword.
“Still the same.”
Karina frowned and looked at him.
Droplets of blood spattered intermittently everywhere, and a deep pool of dark red blood at his feet.
Between them, he looked incredibly clean as if he had just finished a battle.
His silently walking away, leaving his fallen enemies behind, was as creepy as a grim reaper, yet so beautiful that it was admirable.
“Are you okay?”
Jeremiah approached Karina and asked her about her well-being.
“I’m okay. Fortunately, this man saved me.”
“This man?”
Karina said, pointing to the silver-haired man next to her.
“When there was an explosion, this man protected me.”
“He protected you?”
Jeremiah’s gaze shifted to the silver-haired man. The silver-haired man answered with a gentle smile.
“My name is Mikhail.”
“Mikhail.”
Jeremiah scrutinized Mikhail’s appearance with his hawk-like eyes.
Jeremiah continued, seeing Mikhail’s appearance in his worn-out robes.
“You don’t look like an ordinary traveler...”
“I'm a wandering magician on a trip. It was just a coincidence that I ended up saving her, so don’t worry about it too much.”
“...A magician?”
Jeremiah’s eyes twitched at Mikhail’s words.
“Your Highness!”
Just then, a knight came in front of Jeremiah in a hurry, checked his mood, and whispered something to his ear. At that moment, the atmosphere suddenly became mysterious.
Jeremiah looked back at Mikhail with his eyes lowered.
“You said you were a magician. Then what is your affiliation?”
“As I said before, I’m a wanderer... I don’t have any affiliation right now.”
“What were you doing here?”
“I was just passing by.”
“I see.”
Slurp.
When did he pull it out?
Jeremiah’s sword was pointed at his neck.
“...Why are you doing this?”
Jeremiah answered in a cold voice when Mikhail asked why.
“I’m going to arrest you for your involvement in the prison break.”
***
“That can’t be right.”
Karina, who had returned to the mansion, strongly protested about the arrest of the silver-haired man who had saved her.
“As a result of investigating the explosion that destroyed the prison, we found out that a magician was involved. And a magician who happened to appear at the scene. And that magician is a wanderer with no proper affiliation. Isn’t that enough to charge him?”
“He’s innocent.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
Karina was momentarily speechless at Jeremiah’s sharp question.
How does she know?
‘If he was the culprit or an accomplice, he wouldn’t have been there leisurely watching.’
If he had really been involved in the prison break, he would have used magic to escape or attack.
And the somewhat relaxed atmosphere he gave off also played a part.
But this explanation didn’t make any sense to Jeremiah.
“He’s the person who saved me from danger when I first saw him today. There’s no way someone like that would have been involved in something like a prison break.”
“That’s something I’ll find out naturally if I investigate. More importantly, I wonder why you’re protecting that wizard.”
“You really...”
Phew.
Karina let out a sigh that was almost like a sigh.
Yes, that’s the kind of person he was originally.
A person who strictly follows the rules. A person who builds walls around flexibility and consideration.
“Okay. Then, let me meet him. I want to know what the circumstances are.”
“He might be the culprit behind the explosion. I can’t allow it.”
“Are you saying that I can’t even offer words of comfort to my benefactor?”
Jeremiah’s straight eyebrows twitched at the word ‘benefactor.’
“Say it again. I can’t allow it. And...”
He warned Karina with cold eyes.
“Don’t use the word ‘benefactor’ in front of me.”
And the somewhat relaxed atmosphere he gave off also played a part.
But this explanation didn’t make any sense to Jeremiah.
“He’s the person who saved me from danger when I first saw him today. There’s no way someone like that would have been involved in something like a prison break.”
“That’s something I’ll find out naturally if I investigate. More importantly, I wonder why you’re protecting that wizard.”
“You really...”
Phew.
Karina let out a sigh that was almost like a sigh.
Yes, that’s the kind of person he was originally.
A person who strictly follows the rules. A person who builds walls around flexibility and consideration.
“Okay. Then, let me meet him. I want to know what the circumstances are.”
“He might be the culprit behind the explosion. I can’t allow it.”
“Are you saying that I can’t even offer words of comfort to my benefactor?”
Jeremiah’s straight eyebrows twitched at the word ‘benefactor.’
“Say it again. I can’t allow it. And...”
He warned Karina with cold eyes.
“Don’t use the word ‘benefactor’ in front of me.”
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