Are MZ Shamans In Trouble In Romance Novels? - Chapter 25

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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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25.

***

“Keu, skewers are definitely best with pork.”

“Forget everything else, sausage is the way to go.”

“That’s pork, you ignorant fool.”

The Northern Knights smacked their lips as they grilled meat skewers in the middle of the training ground. The Duke’s Castle cuisine was excellent, but sometimes this wasn’t bad either. It reminded them of northern winters.

“Doing this reminds me of last winter.”

“The one where we went to subjugate orcs?”

“Cold, hungry, exhausting… We were lucky enough to catch a rabbit and eat it back then, and keu- I still can’t forget that taste.”

The knights shared tales of their past exploits while watching the skewers cook. The night was deepening and the wind was cool, bringing back various memories.

“Then go eat in the Northern Region! Why are you making a fuss here!”

Calisia, who couldn’t stand listening to the knights’ stories any longer, burst out in irritation. Tales of valor? Grilled skewers? Nostalgia? Fine, whatever. But why do it where someone else is training their special ability?

-This is a Ring of Fire I created with mana. The closer you get, the fiercer the flames become. If you don’t want to stay in the training ground all night, use your special ability to escape.

Trapped in the flames, Calisia recalled Ian’s words and gritted her teeth. Then she glared at the knights having their leisurely barbecue party. How could they think to grill skewers on the Ring of Fire when she might burn to death?

“Get lost! All of you get lost!”

Calisia, who had been sitting on the ground, couldn’t contain her anger and charged at the knights. The flames that had been at her shin level suddenly shot upward, creating a massive wall of fire.

“Whoa! The skewers are all burning!”

“Miss! Calm down! Calm down!”

The knights who complained nimbly pulled back. Then they blew on their meat skewers. At that infuriating sight, Calisia stomped the ground and screamed. Ian, who had been meditating in one corner of the training ground, rose at the midnight commotion.

“Calisia Valus.”

Standing before the Ring of Fire, he quietly watched the fuming Calisia. She snapped at his incomprehensible gaze, asking what he was looking at.

“You’ve already awakened your special ability. Your body temperature being hotter than usual is also because of the fire that has settled within you.”

The special ability and mana existing within Calisia’s body had already entered a stable state. The problem was that she couldn’t draw that power out and control it externally.

“Valus Crimson Flame is commonly called the Emperor of Flames. So why don’t you try using that magnificent special ability to suppress the fire I created.”

Ian deliberately needled Calisia’s nerves. Intense emotions like anger sometimes become a source of power.

“Skewer.”

Ian, who had lifted his chin with an arrogant expression, extended his hand into the air. The knights moved quickly and selected the plumpest sausage to hand to him.

Tak-

Taking the golden-brown grilled skewer, Ian bit into the sausage. Juices burst forth, filling his mouth with savory flavor.

“Delicious.”

After briefly looking at Calisia’s distorted expression, he turned around without hesitation.

***

“So childish, really!”

Calisia stabbed her fork into the mountain of sausages piled on her plate. The Previous Head of House and Isaac scolded her for eating so much from the morning, but she didn’t hear them.

-Delicious.

Calisia chewed the sausage while recalling Ian’s face. To conclude, Calisia, who failed to escape the ring last night, didn’t get to eat a single bite of skewer. The Northern Knights’ mischievous teasing was a bonus.

“No! Why won’t it work!”

Calisia stopped chewing her sausage and let out a lion’s roar. She was someone who completed not only the Previous Head of House’s lessons but also personal training every day. So why was her progress so slow?

-Can’t you close your mouth while eating?

-Miss! It’s flying! Ugh!

The Previous Head of House and Isaac cringed in horror. The ghosts, who didn’t even have bodies for sausage to stick to, were making an unnecessary fuss.

“This is all because of this damn weak body!”

Calisia combatively shoved sausage into her mouth. Isaac said awakening a special ability was something, but that was nonsense.

-Do you know of the secret unit called The Scorched Ones? Those who survived the Fire Ritual but had insufficient innate power, causing their entire bodies to melt from fire.

Calisia trembled as she recalled the Previous Head of House’s words. She couldn’t know the standard for that insufficiency. They too had succeeded in awakening their special abilities, but ended up in a state worse than death.

“Isaac! Who was the damn bastard who first created this ritual? Who! I’m really going to kill them!”

Calisia, swept by rage, slammed her fist on the table hard enough to break it. She was so heated that her head felt hot as a fireball.

-Um, the First Head of House. But probably, no definitely, they’ve passed away…

Isaac fidgeted and twisted his hands.

“What? What do you mean what.”

-How about practicing a bit more rather than assassination plans? Haha…

“What? Are you mocking me now!”

Enraged Calisia stabbed at the table with her fork. Every time she moved her arms, her heart and blood vessels boiled like lava. She could feel her blood flowing through her veins so clearly.

“Agh!”

And the moment Calisia let out a scream filled with rage, faint flames flickered in her pupils.

-Miss! Miss! The chair! The chair!

Isaac, who had been flapping like a fish out of water with every banging sound, called to Calisia desperately.

“Chair what!”

-Fi, fire!

-…The chair is burning.

At the two ghosts’ words, Calisia shot out of the chair like lightning. The seat was charred black and flames were spreading around the backrest. It had always just smoldered a bit, but this was the first time it actually caught fire.

“…Finally!”

Calisia, who had been staring blankly, let out a cheer. She made a fuss to the Previous Head of House and Isaac, telling them to look at those fierce flames.

-But it seems… a bit too fierce?

-Stop fooling around and put out the fire. Unless you want to burn down the entire room.

“How do I put it out?”

Calisia, who had been drunk on joy, looked around the room with an ‘oh no’ expression. The chair had long since become ash, and the curtains where the fire had spread were blazing crimson. Calisia roughly grabbed the blanket from the bed to extinguish the flames.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

-What ignorance! Since you started the fire, naturally you should be the one to extinguish it! And do you think this is just ordinary fire!

The Previous Head of House held his head as he watched Calisia wildly swinging the blanket. Why else would people call Valus Crimson Flame the unextinguishable flame?

“I don’t know how! I have to do something!”

-Just call someone! Are the knights outside decorations?

“Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!”

Calisia, screaming loud enough to shake the Northern Castle, kicked open the door and ran out.

***

Five days after the incident that nearly burned down the entire Northern Castle, the day of the ritual dawned. Countless members of Valus gathered at the Central Castle as if they had been waiting only for this day.

“Ha, yawn-.”

Calisia rubbed her sleepy eyes and yawned. It was because she had devoted herself to training until the day before.

“But there are more people than I thought.”

In the quite bustling venue, Calisia looked at Isaac.

-Even people who don’t need to come are all here. Those whose Valus blood is even questionable.

Isaac said that around this time, even the branch families of branch families gather at the Central Castle. It was because of greed. If they just pass the ritual, unimaginably great wealth and honor would follow.

“Isn’t the probability of burning to death higher before that?”

-That’s right. Even among the direct line, there are those who can’t pass the ritual… What about the branch families then.

So many people destined for hell. Calisia sighed as she watched children trembling while held by their parents’ hands. How many of them would actually make it home alive?

Thud!

Thud!

The brief contemplation ended as the ground shook with fierce vibrations. Sharp pincers and a curled tail. A massive Desert Scorpion entered through the castle gate carrying the bastards.

Those covered in black cloaks dismounted one by one and stood in formation. People’s attention was instantly drawn to their movements, which were disciplined to an alien degree.

“…Ah.”

At the moment she heard what seemed like someone calling her name, Calisia turned her head toward the bastards. After filtering through the gazes again and again, she found the one who had called her.

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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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