Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 194

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 194

To think he would track down my location and come find me while being chased by priests and mages.

The Red Mage Tower Master seemed to be not only skilled in magic but also exceptional at assessing situations.

Seeing how he immediately realized that I was leading the communication between the priests and mages.

Cold sweat ran down my back, but I hoped my fear wouldn’t show on the surface as I looked straight into the Red Mage Tower Master’s eyes.

And I opened my mouth with as nonchalant an expression as possible.

“Well, if you were truly troubled, you would have hidden that staff that’s supposedly the national treasure of the Mage Republic first.”

At my words, the Red Mage Tower Master, who had been observing me with an innocent face, suddenly burst into laughter.

Even amidst the pouring rain, the child’s clear laughter echoed strangely loud.

“Well, well. The Marquess thinks you’re just a young greenhorn, but you have quite the backbone for your age. How many years has it been since I’ve seen a young one glare straight into my eyes like that?”

He nodded toward me with an expression of approval.

Since he wasn’t immediately attacking me with offensive magic to kill me, it didn’t seem like the worst-case scenario I had imagined.

Just moments ago, I had been constantly exchanging real-time locations of the dark mages with Chaser through messenger birds.

So now I needed to buy time. Until Chaser, finding it strange that the messenger bird hadn’t returned, would come looking for me to assess the situation.

Therefore, I barely suppressed my desire to turn around and flee immediately, quietly watching as the Red Mage Tower Master climbed onto the windowsill.

Despite having come through the torrential rain, not a single drop of water clung to the robe wrapped around his small frame.

I kept my eyes on his pupils, from which the golden gleam had disappeared, while mentally feeling for the only escape route.

To my right, below the wooden door in the floor, hundreds of stairs spiraled down in a whirlwind pattern.

To avoid the Red Mage Tower Master, go down all those stairs, and safely set foot on the ground would require tremendous luck and a miracle that even paying Suga ten million gold wouldn’t be enough for.

So instead of waiting for him to let his guard down, I actively opened my mouth to buy even a little more time.

“How did you find this place?”

“I tracked the mana of the little rat that disrupted the meeting. The way it was busily flying around was so frantic.”

The Red Mage Tower Master spoke lightly, but it wasn’t as simple as his words suggested.

Chaser had put only the tiniest amount of mana into the messenger bird to avoid being tracked, so tracing mana traces from that would be difficult, and scanning this entire vast port city to detect faint mana required an absurdly delicate mana detection ability.

‘Indeed, he didn’t claim the top of the Red Tower for nothing.’

I prepared to summon Cao’s clones at any moment in case of an emergency.

Then, the Red Mage Tower Master muttered quietly with a smiling face.

“Marquess, are you acquainted with our Ascetic friend?”

‘An Ascetic out of nowhere?’

I looked straight up at him, hiding my confusion.

The Magister continued speaking while observing me thoroughly, as if trying to get some hint from my expression.

“The Marquess commands a fairy that can distinguish dark mages. So think about it. How much our existence must have bothered us. Yet the Marquess was able to keep your body safe while staying in this city. Why do you think that was?”

“…”

I couldn’t answer easily.

I had thought they couldn’t attack recklessly because Giuseppe and Chaser were frequently by my side.

But thinking back… Yes, there were definitely times when I was exposed defenseless. Times when I had let my guard down thinking the dark mages wouldn’t know about Suga’s existence.

“Because the Ascetic warned us not to lay a hand on you. How about it, Marquess? Do you know anything about the Ascetic?”

‘Why would the Ascetic…’

While trying to interpret the truth and meaning of those words, I unknowingly revealed my confusion outwardly.

The Red Mage Tower Master’s eyes immediately narrowed.

“Yes, the Marquess knows nothing about the Ascetic.”

The next moment, the gentle atmosphere began to change rapidly.

Only then did I realize that the Red Mage Tower Master had been entertaining me to test whether I knew anything about their Ascetic.

Woof!

The Cerberus began barking fiercely, baring their fangs. I looked for an escape route while asking as calmly as possible.

“…You said the Ascetic told you not to lay a hand on me.”

Though pathetic, I didn’t hesitate to cling to the Ascetic’s mercy.

“That’s true, but… everyone makes mistakes, don’t they? For example, how about ‘accidentally’ collapsing the tower without knowing you were here?”

A deep golden light appeared in the eyes of the Red Mage Tower Master as he grinned and looked up at the high ceiling of the spire.

“This…”

Rumble!

A sound like lightning striking the spire’s roof echoed from above my head.

“You senile crazy old man!”

I screamed and frantically released the Cao clones I had prepared.

Thanks to pouring out all my mana, my vision was a mess with ravens rising like lava from an active volcano. It was probably the same for the Red Mage Tower Master.

The Red Mage Tower Master’s magic flashed like thunder through the flock of ravens covering my vision.

Bang!

His magic violently pounded the wooden door, which was the only escape route.

“Tch, these flying insects!”

With the Magister’s angry shout behind me, I climbed onto the opposite windowsill with Ker.

‘Can I do this?’

No, what’s important now isn’t weighing the possibility of whether I can do it. Surviving is what matters for now.

“Cerberus.”

As I quietly murmured, flames spreading from Ker’s body in my arms burned my clothes.

However, I didn’t care and wrapped both arms around Ker’s neck, who was swelling with flames, and hung on with all my might.

Creak.

As soon as the ominous sound the spire’s roof was making poured down overhead, Cerberus, who had regained his original size, leaped from the spire while carrying me.

“Marquess!”

With the Red Mage Tower Master’s shout behind me as the last thing I heard, the spire’s roof began to collapse.

* * *

Whoosh!

Cerberus ran powerfully, stepping on the roofs of houses clustered together.

Unlike a horse with a saddle, I was barely hanging on like a cicada clinging to an old tree, gripping Cerberus’s fur tightly.

Every time Cerberus kicked off a roof and leaped between houses, my body would float up like a piece of paper, then crash back down onto Cerberus’s body with a thud.

As Cerberus’s fur got wet from the rain, my hands slipped, and though my grip gradually weakened, I couldn’t tell Cerberus to stop.

Every time Cerberus nimbly launched his body, the sound of something being smashed clawed at my back.

Though I didn’t look back, I could tell that the Magister was chasing us at close range, firing magic indiscriminately.

While precariously fleeing using roofs as footholds like that.

Yelp!

Suddenly Cerberus screamed and staggered, then fell below the roof.

“Cerberus!”

Thud!

I was helplessly swept along and fell with Cerberus.

I wasn’t seriously injured because Cerberus protected me during the fall.

I hurriedly escaped from Cerberus’s embrace as he lay limp, struggling to get up somehow, and assessed the situation.

Cerberus’s blood spread through the pouring rainwater.

Pitifully, Cerberus’s hind leg was mangled beyond recognition.

“You’re being troublesome, Marquess.”

At the young voice coming from directly above my head, I slowly raised my head.

The Red Mage Tower Master, soaked by the rain, was looking down at me with an annoyed expression.

I wanted to curse at him, but perhaps due to the shock of the fall, only wheezing sounds barely escaped from my mouth.

“Let’s end this game of tag.”

A brilliant magic circle appeared above the head of the Magister who muttered briefly.

Just as the flames it emitted were about to hit me directly.

“Belinda!”

Someone grabbed my collar, pulled me back, and stood in front of me.

I stared blankly at the small back standing before me.

The moment her rain-soaked silver hair glittered in the divine light.

Bang!

The magical fireball that struck the divine Barrier scattered like fireworks.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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