TYND 126

After the announcement that there would be a magical fireworks display this morning, many people reacted like this:

“I heard they’re going to shoot Flame Magic like fireworks? It’ll be the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

“It’s just magic. Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“Seriously. Fireworks in broad daylight? I’m busy hunting.”

“Isn’t it a waste of Magic stone to put on a fireworks show?”

Amidst the lukewarm reactions, a streak of fire soared through the blue sky.

The magical fire streak shone brightly even in the bright daylight with the sun overhead, rising to the highest point. Then, with a bang! and a burst of sound, it exploded, creating large and small fireworks.

Thousands of red flowers painted the entire sky. The hot flames, so intense that you could feel the heat even from a distance, set the sky ablaze.

The red flowers soon turned into thousands of petals and faded away, replaced by blue flames rippling like waves, sweeping across the sky before disappearing. Yellow flames rained down like stars from within the waves. Green flames danced, filling the sky, and white flames resembling snowflakes covered everything. The colorful fireworks constantly changed shape, embroidering the sky.

“Wow… it’s like magic.”

“So this is what magic is like….”

The audience was completely mesmerized.

Rothy had seen fireworks displays several times, but this was the first time he had witnessed such a beautiful and magnificent sight.

‘I didn’t need to worry.’

His heart felt warm and fuzzy. Rothy knew that Rossiare and the other magicians of the Northern Magic Organization were anxious about the lack of significant results. He had hoped that entrusting them with the wooden doll would quench their thirst, and he had generously supported them with Magic stone for that purpose.

To make the most of this opportunity, they had put their heads together and spent days agonizing over creating such grand and splendid fireworks.

He regretted his unnecessary worries.

Boom!

The last firework in a fireworks display is always the most spectacular. A huge explosion erupted, accompanied by a fire streak that dwarfed all the other fireworks, drawing gasps from everywhere.

The fire streak soon blossomed into a giant flower.

It was a flower of fire, so vast that it momentarily darkened the surroundings.

“……?”

Rothy tilted his head. Even though it was the sky in the distance, he could feel the magic as if it were nearby, but the energy flow was strange. With this scale and this much magic… shouldn’t it be different?

“Wow… it’s huge!”

“Does that mean each of those lights that make up the flower is a ball of fire?”

“Crazy. That’s amazing magic.”

Amidst everyone’s cheers, Rothy stood up abruptly with a pale face. As if waiting for it, Theon also stood up.

“Moving suddenly can cause dizziness, so you should always move slowly.”

“Theon, that’s dangerous. We need to evacuate everyone quickly…!”

“Is that so.”

Rothy, who could read even the slightest changes in Theon’s expression, didn’t realize that Theon’s reaction was too calm because the situation was so urgent.

“Huh…?”

Around that time, the audience also noticed something strange.

“Doesn’t it feel like it’s getting closer?”

“It’s getting bigger… uh… it’s getting hotter?”

“It’s falling…!”

“It’s falling this way!”

“Aaaaaah! Run away!”

Thousands of fireballs flew towards the venue.

People screamed and scattered, tripping over chairs and each other’s feet. In an instant, it became a scene of chaos.

Knights who had been stationed for safety began waving flags from various locations, guiding people to evacuate safely, as if they had been waiting for this.

Rothy was about to use magic right away but realized that there were too many eyes watching, so he took out his wand. He handed Chi-chi to Theon and said,

“Theon, I’m going to create a shield. Calm people down so they don’t get hurt.”

“Understood.”

Rothy flew into the sky.

“It’s the Archduke’s consort…!”

“Lord Rothy!”

“The Archduke’s consort is in danger!”

People who spotted Rothy floating in the air were horrified.

Amidst everyone’s shock, Rothy drew a large hemisphere in the air with his wand. Green magic gathered in the snowflake-shaped Magic stone at the end of the wand and soon burst out explosively.

Warm magic, like the spring sunshine, spread out in a circle, encompassing the stage and the audience, and even the entire field and Elsie Falls.

It was a massive shield created with the intention of ensuring that not a single squirrel in the forest, not a single weed in the field, absolutely nothing would be harmed.

Bang! Boom. Crash!

The fireballs that had been pouring down like a meteor shower exploded and disappeared as they touched the light green shield.

Even as thousands of fireballs collided and exploded, not even a crack appeared in the shield. It was firm, majestic, and reverent.

An overwhelming strength that seemed capable of preventing even the end of the world.

The one who had created this massive shield was gazing at the sky, wand in hand, as if determined not to let his guard down.

His expression was resolute, and his eyes were sharp. His snow-white, mysterious hair fluttered in the wind.

The youngest Archmage in history. The one currently regarded as the strongest among the Transcenders.

People belatedly realized that fact and simply stared up at him in a daze.

---

“Rothy, it’s time to sleep.”

“Okay.”

“Rothy. Chi-chi has already laid down.”

“Okay.”

“Rothy. Shall we go to Elsie Falls tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

“……”

His answers lacked sincerity. Theon smiled instead as he watched his partner not paying attention to his words.

Rothy was completely absorbed in looking at the photos taken at the hunting competition. Chungnip and Ultje had followed Rothy around, taking hundreds of photos, and after the hunting competition ended today, Theon had collected the photos that Rothy would like (he decided to keep Rothy’s solo shots for himself) and made them into an album as a gift.

Rothy had jumped up and down, delighted, saying it was such a great gift, and had been admiring the album with his nose buried in it for an hour. Even while completely absorbed, he diligently answered “okay, okay” when he heard his spouse’s voice, which was adorable.

He wanted to let him admire it until he was tired of it, but.

“He’s going to collapse at this rate.”

Theon, who knew Rothy’s physical limits well, finally strode over to the sofa and picked Rothy up in his arms.

Rothy giggled and enjoyed it, as if he had expected it. Even as they headed to the bedroom, he chattered, showing him the photos in the album.

“Look at this. Chi-chi is sitting so dignifiedly. Isn’t it cute?”

“Yes.”

“Kking-kkingi is also very mature. In this photo, its eyes are steadfastly looking at Ultje, and in the next photo, it’s looking at a cosmos flower? And then it just chomped down on the cosmos like this. I guess it wanted to eat it.”

“Ultje took good photos.”

Theon sometimes thought.

How painful must it have been for this child, who loved to talk so much, to be trapped in the Magic Tower.

Actually, he thought about it quite often.

As he carefully placed him on the bed, Chi-chi, who had been dozing off on the pillow, slowly woke up and snuggled into Rothy’s arms.

While Rothy was holding Chi-chi, Theon quickly snatched the album and put it in the drawer of the bedside table. Rothy looked disappointed, but he obediently lay down, as if he was indeed tired.

“Looking at the photos brings back memories. It was a really fun and enjoyable hunting competition.”

“It was able to end safely thanks to the Archmage.”

The hunting competition had a happening where everyone almost burned to death on the first day, but after that, it ended safely without any safety accidents.

Rothy didn’t catch the most prey. Instead, he proved his abilities by catching dozens of prey that were so difficult that others caught at most two or three.

In fact, everyone would have acknowledged Rothy’s abilities even if he hadn’t caught a single prey.

The magic that the Archmage had shown on the first day was that overwhelming.

Theon recalled the day when the tide of the Human-Demon War had turned. He had felt intimidated even by the sight of thousands of meteorites pouring down on the Great Plains. It was a feeling of being overwhelmed. At the time, he had thought it was Yolone Sirin’s achievement, but it was actually something a ten-year-old child had done.

Now that he was twenty-three, how much stronger would he have become?

An overwhelming power that would not be a concern even if a Demon God, not a Demon Lord, appeared. People praised Rothy throughout the hunting competition.

‘I thought that being an Archmage just meant being able to cast a few spells a little faster, but I didn’t know he would be this overwhelmingly strong.’

‘Exactly. He’s not just a cute and childlike person.’

‘My legs gave out, and I collapsed.’

‘His eyes weren’t round. It was the first time I saw a straight line in Lord Rothy’s eyes.’

‘I’m only now realizing that the Archduke’s consort is such a wonderful and magnificent person.’

‘Lord Rothy was also a Northerner.’

‘That’s right. Lord Rothy is also a Northerner. The blood of the North flows through him.’

Rothy had finally shed his young and cute image, as he had wanted.

The reason why Rothy was happily smiling even though he was tired now was also because he was happy that his plan had succeeded.

“I have to work hard to maintain this image in the future. I have to be careful not to fall in front of people.”

“You have to be careful not to fall even when you’re not in front of people.”

“Theon, you worked so hard too. Were you tired because I was being so insistent about changing my image?”

“Not at all. It was just lovely.”

Theon kissed Rothy’s round forehead. Rothy smiled brightly.

Theon covered Rothy with the blanket up to his shoulders and lowered the brightness of the lights. He didn’t turn them off completely. He knew that Rothy still had more to chatter about.

While Rothy was reminiscing about the things he had done to change his image, Theon thought that he should reward Chungnip.

Rothy didn’t know, but in fact, Theon and Chungnip were also involved in the magic fire crash accident on the first day of the hunting competition.