The Mage Will Master Magic Efficiently In His Second Life - CH 144.2

Azalea shook her hand as she seemed to have noticed me.

Good grief, if you knew I was here why didn’t you come and help earlier… I wouldn’t have had to struggle so much…

「And here I thought that I heard something, and just when I came to check I found you Zeph-kun. Did you have a hard time?」

「You could say.」

「I gave you a ring crystal, didn’t I? You could have just contacted me with that. Do I look that unreliable to you?」

「I simply forgot about it. I was quite desperate you see.」

「Haha, guess you didn’t want to show me your trump cards. Especially considering how skilful of a mage you are Zeph-kun.」

「You’re overestimating me.」

「I’d rather say that I’m underestimating you, wouldn’t you say?」

「… Oh spare me that talk.」

If I were to continue this, it would only turn to a back and forth between me and her.

I seemed like she was enjoying that, however I was pretty bad at these kinds of topics.

Before digging my own grave I decided to change the topic.

「Rather than that, I found a suspicious place.」 Hearing that Azalea’s expression immediately became serious.

「Oh my, you sure work fast.」

「I have capable friends you see… It’s over there.」 I said as I pointed towards the small cave. Seeing it Azalea nodded.

「That place… it’s not shown on the map… There’s a chance that he might be hiding over there.」

「Just as I was about to enter it I got attacked by the Octorol. I’m planning on going again, do you want to come with me Azalea?」

「Sure. I’ll take the lead being the older one.」

「Be my guest. Let’s see what you’re capable of.」

「Hahaha, give me just a minute to call my friends.」 said Azalea with a smile as she proceeded to call her friends.

After a bit, two sturdy looking men came over by using Teleport.

「This here is Charade and Gustav. Both of them are only one star, however they are honest and good guys.」

Looking at the men’s coats the single star, that was used to signify the ranks of Dispatch Magicians, was certainly attached around their chest area.

「Azalea-senpai, I hope you don’t think we’re friends or something like that, now are you?」

「That’s right! You should at least add that we’re strong or something like that!」

「Hahaha, my bad. Their battle prowess is the real thing as well. … And you both, this here is Zeph.」

「Nice to meet you.」 I said as Azalea introduced me to both of them.

Both of the men looked at me as if they were trying to evaluate me.

「Hmph, so you’re Azalea-san’s… I’ve heard stories. You certainly do look quite strong.」

「It’s a pleasure to work with you Zeph-dono.」

「The pleasure is all mine.」 I said as I shook the men’s hands.

They appeared like honest and good people just from the way they treated me, a child, of all people.

I also felt that the pulse of their magic power lines was quite strong, which signified that they were indeed strong.

「Well then, let’s hurry. There was quite the commotion, so the enemy might have noticed us.」

「You’re right. Still it’s not like anyone can escape from us either way.」 said Charade.

「That’s right. The intimidation magic that we’ve cast is now stacked trifold after all.」 continued Gustav.

From a while ago, I felt that there was a dense amount of magic power floating around.

It was a type of intimidation spell used to block teleportation. And it appeared that the three of them were casting it simultaneously.

Due their spells overlapping with one another, the area had gotten quite huge and was encompassing the whole of the rocky area.

With this no matter how skilled Grain was, he still wouldn’t be able to escape.

「Let’s go.」 said Azalea as she took the vanguard towards the cave.

A magic light illuminated the darkness of the cave, as we proceeded forward with maximum caution.

However, the cave ended up being not as deep as I had originally expected, and we reached a dead end quite soon.

「A dead end it seems.」 said Gustav.

The back of the cave had formed into a wide cavity.

We explored the inside with the help of the magical light, but there were no signs of neither Claude, nor Grain.

Damn it, a miss huh.

「It seems like there’s nothing here. There’s no point in staying here any longer, let’s go back.」 prompted Azalea.

At her command we turned around and prepared to leave. When I also turned around and was about to head for the exit, I heard a voice in my head.

Telepathy… This feeling… It’s Claude!

《Zeph… kun…》

《Claude, is that you?!》

I stopped and immediately closed my eyes, and blocked my ears, just so that I could focus my whole being on Claude’s voice.

《Where are you?! Everyone’s worried about you!》

《I’m… so-sorry…》

Her voice is probably cutting off due to her Screen Point. After all she can’t use Telepathy quite well when she has it turned on.

As if having calmed down a bit, Claude began to talk more normally.

《I’m sorry for disappearing like that. But at last, my feelings… At tomorrow’s full moon… At that place… Can you come alone Zeph-kun…》

《Claude…?》

It seems like she really was overthinking it. She feels a bit different than usual. It feels like she didn’t mean what she was saying… Could it just be because of the telepathy cutting off?

《I got it. Tomorrow night right?》

《…Yes… I’ll… be… waiti…》

And with that Claude’s telepathy completely cut off.

Thank god, she’ll come back to us.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes slowly only to notice that I was surrounded by Azalea and the two men.

All three of them were looking at me with curious eyes.

「What is it, what is it? This feeling just now, could it be a woman?! Ah, youth, it sure is great.」 said Charade.

「Oh my…」 continued Azalea. Both of them seemed quite interested.

Rather it felt like they had even been able to hear what my and Claude were talking about just now.

「Charade, and even you Azalea-san… It’s not nice to listen in on people’s telepathy.」

「Yea, yea. I’m sorry Zeph-kun.」

「Hahaha, my bad, my bad.」

So they really did hear it… I guess it must be some kind of Unique Spell. What a sly thing to do.

I glared at the both of them who didn’t look like they were reflecting all that much.

「… I really do feel bad. You looked really desperate, and I thought that it might be Grain so I just…」 said Azalea.

「You should have noticed it wasn’t him halfway there thought.」

「Ha… ha… ha…」

「Don’t think you can get away with just laughing.」 I said while brushing away Azalea’s hand that was stroking my head.

After that I got lost in thought about my Telepathy with Claude.

Tomorrow night, during the full moon, I need to go to that place alone huh. That place must be the place where I killed Kane… It’s quite near here. Should I tell Milly and the others though? No, that’s not a good idea. Claude said she wanted to see me alone. If I tell the others, someone, especially Milly, will definitely follow me. It must be quite important for Claude considering she cut off communication with everyone else and just contacted me. Come to think of it, Claude became strange after she saw me and Milly together. If she sees me with someone else, she might run away again. For the time being I’ll go meet and capture her, I’ll even put a collar around her neck if necessary and bring her back to everyone… Talking about collars, I forgot to give her the collar that Shirushu bought for her as a gift. She might cheer up a little if I put that on her. In any case… I’ll definitely bring her back!

As I steadied myself and tightly squeezed the collar in my hand. At that same time Azalea slowly sneaked up to my ear.

「By the way Zeph-kun. Come to think of it, wasn’t Claude-kun a boy?」

「Huh?」

「Are you two like… you know… Between two men…」 said Azalea excitedly as her face turned slightly red.

This woman, she’s definitely misunderstanding this.

「… I’ll tell you just in case, but Claude is a woman.」

「Oh, so that’s how it is…」

Hearing that, the tone of Azalea’s voice suddenly dropped.

Why do you seem so disappointed?!

I looked at her with a frightened face as she dropped her shoulders in disappointment.