Ryo stood in his back room, senses stretched to their limits as he tracked the magical disturbance. It was moving closer to town, and it wasn't alone. He counted at least three distinct signatures, all of them far stronger than anything that should be in this area.

"Everything alright back there?" Turner called from the main room. "You've been staring at that wall for five minutes!"

"Just checking our inventory!" Ryo called back, quickly adopting his usual clumsy demeanor as he returned to the main room. He needed to handle this situation without breaking character, which meant he had to be clever about it.

The tavern was still full of people celebrating their evaluations, completely unaware of the approaching danger. Ryo did a quick head count – twenty-three civilians he'd need to protect if things went wrong.

"Hey, Anna," he called out to the hedge witch, who was explaining mana scarring to anyone who would listen. "Does your weather sense pick up anything strange?"

Anna paused mid-sentence, her brow furrowing. As a hedge witch, she had a natural connection to the area's magical currents, even if she couldn't manipulate them well. "Now that you mention it... something feels off."

Perfect. He could use this.

"Maybe we should close early?" Ryo suggested, trying to sound nervous rather than calculating. "Last time you had a bad feeling about the weather, we had that huge storm."

"Nonsense!" someone called out. "The sky's clear as can be!"

A tremor ran through the ground, subtle enough that most people wrote it off as imagination. But Ryo felt the magical spike that accompanied it. Whatever was coming was getting closer.

"Better safe than sorry," Turner said, standing up. The old merchant had survived long enough to trust instincts. "Come on, folks. Let's clear out before—"

The second tremor was strong enough to rattle the mugs on the tables. This time, no one could ignore it.

"Everyone out!" Ryo called, dropping his usual timid tone in favor of urgency. "Through the back door, quickly!"

Years of dealing with rowdy customers meant people actually listened to him when he raised his voice. The tavern began to empty, though not as quickly as he'd like. He could feel the magical signatures converging on the town's edge, right where—

"The evaluation tents!" Anna gasped, apparently sensing something through her weather magic. "There are still people there!"

Ryo made a split-second decision. "Turner, get everyone to the old stone chapel. Anna, spread the word to the rest of the town. I'll check the square."

"You?" Turner looked concerned. "Boy, you can barely light a candle!"

"Which is why I'll just look and run!" Ryo was already moving, forcing himself to maintain a slightly awkward gait despite wanting to sprint at full speed.

He reached the town square just as the third tremor hit. The evaluation tents were in chaos, with people running in all directions. The knights, including Elena, had formed a defensive line facing the disturbance.

And then Ryo saw them – three figures emerging from the tree line, each radiating enough magical power to make his teeth ache. Their appearances were hidden by dark cloaks, but their magical signatures told him everything he needed to know.

"Blood mages," he muttered. Practitioners of forbidden magic who gained power by sacrificing others. And they were heading straight for the crowd of magically-evaluated townspeople – perfect targets for their twisted rituals.

Stolen novel; please report.

Elena was barking orders, organizing the knights into formation, but Ryo could tell they were outmatched. These blood mages were on a completely different level.

He had three choices: run away and maintain his cover, help openly and expose himself, or...

One of the blood mages raised a hand, and the earth beneath the knights' feet began to turn red with summoned blood magic. Ryo made his decision.

Moving to the shadow of a building, he pulled out a small pouch he always kept hidden in his sleeve. Inside were specially prepared stones, each one containing a fraction of his power, stored away for emergencies. He'd made them look like ordinary rocks, perfect for throwing.

"Can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered, then raised his voice to a terrified shout: "Watch out! The stones! Throw the stones!"

He lobbed one of his prepared stones toward the blood mages. Several people, panicked and desperate, followed his example, grabbing loose stones from the ground and throwing them.

Of course, only Ryo's stone exploded into a massive burst of counter-magic, disrupting the blood spell. But in the chaos, no one noticed where the power had actually come from.

Elena's head snapped around, her eyes narrowing as she searched the crowd. Ryo was already moving to another position, stumbling deliberately as he went.

"Keep throwing stones!" he yelled, his voice cracking with apparently fear. "The evaluation crystal must have charged them with magic!"

It was a ridiculous explanation, but panic made people believe strange things. More stones flew through the air as Ryo carefully mixed his prepared ones in with the harmless rocks.

The blood mages faltered, clearly confused by the unexpected resistance. One of their hoods fell back, revealing a woman's face twisted with frustration.

"Find whoever's really doing this!" she snarled to her companions. "These peasants couldn't—"

She was cut off as one of Ryo's stones exploded right in front of her face, releasing a blast of pure force that sent her stumbling backward. Again, in the chaos of flying rocks and running people, no one could tell which stone had caused it.

Elena and her knights pressed the advantage, charging forward while the blood mages were disoriented. Ryo continued his stone-throwing strategy, carefully timing his attacks to look random and accidental.

"Fall back!" the female blood mage called to her companions. "This isn't worth—"

Another stone (normal this time) hit her right in the face, thrown by Old Man Turner who had apparently decided to join the fight. Ryo couldn't help but smile – sometimes regular stones worked just fine.

The blood mages retreated, clearly unwilling to face both the knights and what they probably assumed was some kind of lingering magic from the evaluation crystal. As soon as they were gone, Ryo let himself collapse against a wall, playing the part of an exhausted and terrified tavern keeper.

"Is everyone alright?" he called out weakly.

Elena was already striding toward him, her expression unreadable. But before she could reach him, Anna and several others rushed to his side.

"That was quick thinking!" Anna said, helping him up. "I can't believe the crystal charged the stones like that!"

"Just lucky, I guess," Ryo mumbled, avoiding Elena's gaze. "I saw something similar in a book once... about magical accidents..."

"Everyone return to your homes," Elena commanded, addressing the crowd. "We'll establish a protective perimeter around the town. And someone clean up these stones before—"

"Wait!" Ryo called out, forcing himself to stutter slightly. "Shouldn't we... shouldn't we keep them? In case those people come back?"

There was a moment of silence as Elena stared at him. He met her eyes, silently daring her to challenge his story.

"The magical charge will have worn off by now," she said finally. "But yes, gather them up. Sometimes even ordinary stones can be useful weapons, as we've seen."

People began collecting stones, talking excitedly about what had happened. Ryo used the distraction to gather his specially prepared ones, mixing in plenty of regular rocks to avoid suspicion.

"A word?" Elena said quietly as she passed him. "Tomorrow. Dawn. Don't be late."

Ryo nodded slightly, then turned to help Turner up from where the old man had taken cover.

"Maybe we should head back to that chapel now?" he suggested, loud enough for others to hear. "Safety in numbers and all that?"

As he helped organize the townspeople's retreat to the chapel, Ryo's mind was already working on tomorrow's conversation. Elena had definitely noticed something, but he'd given her no solid proof. It would be his word against her suspicions.

Still, as he watched the knights setting up defensive positions around the town, he couldn't help but wonder if his peaceful life was already over. He'd chosen to act, to protect these people, and choices had consequences.

"Just wanted to run a tavern," he muttered to himself as he helped an elderly woman over some debris. "No magic, no fighting, no complications."

"What was that, dear?" the woman asked.

"Nothing," he said with his practiced nervous smile. "Just thinking about what drink specials to offer once this is all over. Nothing helps calm nerves like a good ale, right?"

The woman patted his arm sympathetically, clearly buying his harmless tavern keeper act. But over her shoulder, he could see Elena watching him, and her expression said their next conversation would be anything.