Chapter 30 – In which Crimo lies. He shouldn’t.

“I should tell him to wear gloves.”

“... My Lord, it's summer.”

“But aren’t nights cold even in summer?”

“I assure you, it’ll be quite warm tonight.”

Sangria suppressed a sigh.

Beside him stood Crimo, with a very anxious look on his face.

If not that most of their surroundings bore similar expressions, Sangria would suggest to Crimo to try to control his expression.

They stood in the hallway leading to the Magic Exchange’s hall.

Around, mages of all kinds of upbringing and backgrounds clamored and whispered.

A nervous and excited buzz filled the air.

Today was the day when the mysterious man called ‘Crow’ would sell his formula for the ‘Eternal Fire’ spell.

For the past week those mages probably tried out everything they could come up with, based on the part of the magic circle Crow presented on the previous Magic Exchange.

But they all would face a failure in replicating the ‘Eternal Fire’.

In the first place, their basic understanding of what the spell is was wrong.

Could any of them even imagine that ‘the perfect combat spell’ wasn’t a combat spell at all?

They were about to face the biggest disappointment of their lives for an outrageous price.

Sangria and Crimo might have even feel some pity for them, if not that both of them were occupied with worrying for the ‘mysterious man’ behind it all.

That was because both of them keenly remembered that just yesterday that ‘mysterious man’ managed to cut himself with a butter knife, when he tried to cut meat for the stray cat that somehow found a way into his room.

Crimo was still confused about how that cat found its way inside, but Vern assured him it was Sangria’s newly adopted cat… which didn’t explain why it was in Vern’s room and why was he sitting with a pile of beef and trying to feed the cat with it, but it did make previous descriptor ‘stray cat’ wrong.

It was a ‘newly adopted cat’.

And Vern was cutting meat for it. With a butter knife.

The butter knife which shouldn’t be used to cut raw meat.

It also shouldn’t be able to cut skin, but here they were.

According to Vern, he used a ‘special technique’ which enabled him to cut things even with a blunt knife.

Crimo pinched the bridge of his nose just thinking about it.

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Though he believed in his younger brother's genius, he couldn’t help, but worry that something would go wrong.

Before they departed, they made communication stones in case of an emergency, but was it because they didn’t know each other very well?

The communication was very limited.

The communication stones were a mix of magic and spiritual arts, so they weren’t often used (both the mages and priests were averse to at least one side of this equation), but they were also difficult to use.

Maybe it was because of the spiritual part, the communication stones needed both users to have deep understanding of each other to form a spiritual connection.

Right now Crimo was able to only exchange single word messages with Vern.

“My Lord, you’re fidgeting.”

It seemed that Sangria could no longer hold himself back and put a hand on Crimo’s shoulder to stop him.

Crimo froze.

Then he spoke:

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright, My Lord. I understand.”

The two of them, both using fake identities and disguised, retreated a few steps and fell silent.

At least, the two of them did, but…

“Yes, it’s alright, My Lord, but I don’t understand. Care to explain?”

The third person, who somewhat found his way to Crimo’s side without anyone noticing, spoke.

Crimo almost jumped.

“Scarlen.”

“Hello.”

“What are you doing here?”

Scarlen, one of Crimo’s most trusted confidants, made a very confused face.

“I’m the manager of this Magic Exchange?”

“Right…”

While Crimo experienced sudden enlightenment, Scarlen said:

“Rather, should I be the one to ask what are you doing here. With Master Sangria even.”

“Overseeing…”

“Overseeing?”

“Overseeing… Damn it, I’m an Archmage, why do I need a reason to be somewhere?”

“Of course, you don’t need any. I’m glad you remember that. Also, hello Master Sangria.”

“Hello, Grandmaster Scarlen.”

“Can you tell me why our Lord Crimo is here?”

“I’m afraid it's a confidential matter, Sir.”

“Of course.”

Scarlen smiled and then just stood still beside them.

Crimo glanced at him with a frown.

“Are you planning to just stand here? You’re drawing attention.”

“I’m afraid it’s the best option right now. I planned to observe from the sidelines and see what you’re going to do, it’s more fun this way, you know? But then I noticed a few bastards preparing to launch a pretty extreme ‘exposure spell’ on you and decided to step out.”

“Huh? Why would they do that? I thought we masked ourselves well…”

“I think that’s the problem My Dearest Lord.”

When Crimo gave him a bewildered look, Scarlen smiled even wider and said:

“As you probably know, the situation is very tense. Everyone tries to confirm each other's identities. Or find Mr. Crow. So when they find someone with such a sophisticated disguise spell like yours, they get a bit excited.”

“Ah… Right…”

“My Dear Lord, I can’t help but notice that your thinking circuit seems a bit slow today.”

“There is a lot on my mind.”

“I see…”

Scarlen gave Crimo a curious look, but said:

“How about you go with me to a private lounge? Unless there is something to ‘oversee’ here?”

Crimo considered it for a moment, but it didn’t interfere with Vern's plan.

Rather it was better if Crimo and Sangria avoided everyone’s gazes and drew as little attention as possible.

“Okay.”

Without another word, Scarlen led Crimo and Sangria out of the hall.

When they entered a secluded lounge where they were sure not to be eavesdropped, Scarlen asked:

“How is Young Master Vern?”

Though Scarlen didn’t know exact specifics, he knew that Vern was seriously sick. He also suspected that Sangria might be attending to him, but never voiced this hypothesis to anyone, choosing to keep it for himself.

He expected Crimo to give him a dismissive reply like always, but unexpectedly Crimo stiffened and his eyes started to jump around:

“Fine. I’m sure he is fine. Yes, he is and will be fine.”

“... You don’t sound so sure.”

“I’m sure! There is no reason to worry! None!”

“... Now you make it sound like there is.”

“There is none…”

Scarlen quietly observed Crimo, who started to bite on his fingers.

Did something happen?

Scarlen considered Crimo’s reaction, his hypothesis about Sangria’s current duty and Sangria’s appearance on the current and previous Magic Exchange.

“No way… Is Young Master Vern the Crow?”

“Noo….”

Crimo’s eyes started dancing around the room even more.

Finally they stopped at Sangria, who was observing the entire scene with an expressionless face.

Crimo’s eyes seemed to beg Sangria to say something.

After a few seconds of silence, Sangria finally opened his mouth and said:

“My Lord, has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar?”

Sangria was also not very helpful at lying.