**Chapter 3: Consequences**

Whispers filled the air as people exchanged hushed words, and there was no sign that the commotion would end anytime soon.

Illysha, eager to leave after the test, approached Mage Vale. "Excuse me, Mr. Mage, are there any more tests left?"

Vale, still baffled by her display of magic, responded with a dumbfounded expression, "Huh? No, it's already done."

"Okay then, if you'll excuse me," Illysha said, "I better return to my home now. My mother seems kind of frightened by what happened earlier."

Vale, however, stopped her abruptly and called out to Sir Rock, one of the knights. "Hold on for a second, little girl. Sir Rock, please escort the young lady. I will contact you later through the crystal orb."

Sir Rock, duty-bound, agreed without hesitation. Illysha bid her farewell, saying, "Ok then, I better go now, Mr. Mage. Bye!" She left the area, escorted by her mother's protector, a royal knight accompanying a maid – a rare sight that caught the attention of onlookers.

Back at the ivory tower, the mage who had conducted the test sent a report to the royals. Meanwhile, in a tavern called "Shaun," a soldier who had nearly lost his neck in the commotion was drowning his sorrows in drink.

"Damn bastards," Shaun, who was already intoxicated, exclaimed in the corner of the province castle's tavern. His fellow soldiers, also on their day off, tried to calm him down.

"Shaun, calm down. It won't do you any good to act out like this. You do realize you're trying to pick a fight with a mage, right?" one of them cautioned.

"Hmph! A mage? Like I care!" Shaun retorted. He emptied his jug in one go, smashing it on the ground. The bartender intervened, saying, "Sir, you still haven't paid for that."

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Shaun grumbled but paid his dues, avoiding further trouble with the bar owner, who couldn't afford to offend a veteran province soldier. After Shaun left the bar, the pub manager sighed deeply.

His fellow soldiers shook their heads. "He boasted about having connections with a noble, but look at him now. Even the noble he was trying to impress can't help him deal with the mage."

"Are you serious? It's not just some minor noble; even the great landlords have to bow down to the ivory tower," another soldier chimed in. "Shaun really got himself into a big mess this time."

Laughter filled the tavern as the soldiers badmouthed Shaun. His reputation seemed to be tarnished even among his colleagues. The conversation shifted to Celestia, the maid who had come to the test with Illysha.

"Oh yeah! By the way, Celestia hit the jackpot this time," one of them remarked. "The first time she met that man who looked like a beggar wandering the streets, she helped him, fed him, and fell in love. Who knew that the child born from their love would turn out to be a mage? If I were a woman, I'd rush out to get a seed from that man. Who knows, maybe it would produce another mage."

"What was that beggar's name? I think he had a surname too," another soldier wondered.

"Lu... Ah, right! He's called Lucien Moon."

The conversation then shifted to whether Lucien was a mage himself. "Are you stupid? Do you think a mage's child would automatically become a mage too?" one soldier scoffed.

"Are you joking? How do you even know that?" another soldier asked.

The soldier who was sharing this information simply replied, "There are many ways to know."

While the remaining soldiers discussed these matters, Shaun, who had left the tavern, stumbled through the streets, thoroughly inebriated. He muttered to himself, "I'll do whatever it takes to get my hands on Celestia."

Walking straight was a challenge for the intoxicated Shaun. He suddenly stopped beside a tree near the riverside, unable to hold his bladder any longer. "Damn this belt, why is it so hard to untie?" Shaun grumbled, addressing the belt as if it had offended him.

"Do you look down on me too?" he asked the belt, berating it further. "The first one was a kid who became a mage, and now you want me to beg to you as well? Damn it!"

Shaun continued his tirade until a sudden voice from behind him interrupted him. "Mr. Soldier, how do you want to die? Didn't I tell you I'd be watching you?"

With a wave of his hand, the mysterious voice cast a time spell that paralyzed Shaun's body. He couldn't move, couldn't look back, and couldn't run away.

"You won't be able to move for a while, Mr. Soldier," the voice explained. "That's how this magic works."

"What did you say you wanted to do to my mother, in front of me?" the voice continued. "Ah, I forgot, you can't hear me since I paused your time. Wait a second, let me push you into the river since we're near."

With that, the voice released Shaun from the time spell, and he screamed for help as he fell into the river with a loud splash. His cries for help went unanswered as he struggled in the water.

As Illysha concluded the story, Shaun's struggles ceased, and he drowned in the river.