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So, what will you do?

Adelia seemed to ask with her gaze. As if to answer, Qudels waved his right hand.

 

And then, beautiful rainbow-colored light shone inside of his palm.

This was the result of concentrated magical energy reacting with the air.

 

What magic was it?

Everyone gazed at the beautiful energy in front of them until that question snapped them out of it.

However, no matter how long they waited, they did not hear him chant the long chant, as was necessary for doing such magic.

 

And then, Qudels unleashed the magic in every direction. Then he chanted just one word.

 

“Floracion.”

At the same moment, the entire village shook.

 

“Ahh! What’s happening?”

“Who is this guy? I’ve never seen such magic before.”

The members of the group said as they went outside to see the results of Qudels’s magic.

In front of them, steel vines twisted and red steel roses bloomed… A breathtakingly huge wall of metal now stretched out as far as the eye could see.

 

“I wouldn’t be able to do the same thing if asked. This is at the same level as military magic. A court magician would need about one hundred magicians of my caliber. And the ritual would still take half a day to perform…”

The man, who appeared to be an Adventurer magician, said with a mixture of awe and jealousy.

Even though they were seeing it with their own eyes, it was hard to believe that just one person had accomplished all of this.

 

And he had only chanted a single word?

He might as well have been a god.

It was like…let there be light.

 

Surely he must have used some incredibly rare catalyst for it. But what was it?

If only he would share it with us…

At this point, the only thing in the magician’s head, was how he could get cozy with that mysterious leader.

 

On the other hand…

“Aahh… How beautiful it is.”

“Do you think we can break off the branches and sell them in town?”

Behind the Adventurers, the villagers looked at the beautiful structure and mumbled selfishly.

But that was quite typical of humans.

 

And behind them, Adelia was confronting Qudels.

In fact, she seemed so ferocious that some people thought they could see horns on top of her head.

 

“Leader… This plan of yours. How is it not a land mine?”

“Hehe. So you agree? Isn’t it amusing? But I’m sure even you don’t see the full picture yet. But this is a wonderful landmine with three different levels. No, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

While Adelia gritted her teeth with resentment, Qudels smiled as if he were proud of her.

 

“Judging by your face, you’ve been testing me, haven’t you? Arrghhh. I hate you.”

“Also, I will just say it now. This is only a temporary measure.”

Qudels said with a shrug as he looked at the metal rose hedge he had made.

 

“After all, it is just metal. It will eventually rust and become useless. And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, it does nothing against flying monsters. In other words, we must eventually think of a different defense method that the villagers can maintain.”

“Ye-yes, you are right. But at the same time, you just wanted to make a big show of your power and earn support, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right. Why shouldn’t I? In politics, you want to achieve the most with every action. That is something you must understand. However, you should not hesitate to declare your own defeat when things are too much for you to handle. Just as you did earlier.”

“Declare…defeat!?”

Adelia couldn’t help but repeat the words to herself.

 

“We discussed it before. You are to be a central part of this project.”

In other words, he had been slacking off earlier as a way of telling her to do what she could.

And when she wanted to rely on Qudels’s help, she was to make a declaration of defeat.

When Adelia realized what kind of ridiculous logic was at play here, her face grew red.

 

“I-I’ll show you! You won’t have another second in the spotlight after this!!”

Her voice was so shrill and angry that she might as well have been breathing fire… And then, she went to work on the reconstruction of the village, just as Qudels had wanted.

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