chapter 53

A month went by quickly and the mana from the crystal elixir was absorbed completely.

This signified another step toward 8 stars.

Frey was content with that, but it wasn’t the only good news.

The night before, he had succeeded in signing a contract with a Dark Spirit.

It was a medium level spirit named ‘Darkming.’

It looked like a small cat with black fur and when it signed the contract with Frey it displayed a very haughty attitude.

Camille had said that nine times out of ten the first contracted spirit that a person would gain would be low level, so it was quite good that he had been able to get such a good spirit.

At this point, Frey felt like he no longer had any reason to stay in the magic tower.

There was still some time till the circle’s test and he felt that it was much better to travel around the world than stay in the tower.

With that in mind, Frey immediately packed his things and got ready to leave the tower.

Just as he was about to open the door, he felt that someone was standing just outside of it.

For some reason, Frey got a familiar feeling and so he opened the door to see who it was.

“Ah, ah. Hello.”

A young woman bowed to him.

She looked to be about three or four years older than Frey, but it was her green hair and eyes that caught his attention since they were quite rare even in the entire continent.

“…”

Frey was speechless.

Then he shot a complicated gaze at her cloak before finally opening his mouth.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Beniang.”

He didn’t ask for her name.

Was there something wrong with this woman’s head?

Beniang shook her head hurriedly when she saw Frey’s strange expression.

“Ah. So-, sorry. Are you Frey Blake?”

“I am.”

“I’m sorry for bothering you. Let me introduce myself properly. I am Beniang Argento.”

As she continued, Frey realised that his expectations were correct.

“I am the Circle Master of the Traumen Rings.”

* * *

Frey climbed the stairs of the tower once again and headed to his room.

This was because there was no other place for him to serve guests. And no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t take a Circle Master to a restaurant.

Plus the security of the tower was quite good.

Tak.

Frey closed the door and looked towards Beniang who was sitting in the chair, looking quite nervous.

Although he didn’t show it, Frey was currently in a very complicated state of mind.

‘That cloak wasn’t a magic tool.’

In the first place, when he was Lucas, he didn’t like using magic items.

He had only made a few of them to pass the time.

That cloak was just a plain leather cloak of good quality.

That’s why he almost didn’t recognize it.

Now, 4,000 years later, the cape was quite different from how it used to be.

‘Did they add to it one after another as the years went by?’

It seemed as though someone had replaced parts of it with different types of leather.

Thanks to that, the ordinary leather cloak had become a magic item which matched its name as a hero’s legacy.

But it wasn’t the cloak that confused him.

He voiced the thoughts that he had inside.

“What is Circle Master here for?”

“That…”

Watching her become embarrassed as she searched for words to say gave Frey a new feeling.

This was because he would have never expected that the number one in a circle could be like this.

It was even more pronounced when compared to the arrogance of Dugenjar whom he had met not so long ago.

“By chance…am I the first one to do this?”

“The first one?”

“Well…”

Beniang furrowed her eyebrows slightly as she explained.

“It doesn’t often happen, but when a super rookie like you appears, they will sometimes be approached even before they take the test.”

“Before they even take the test?”

“Yeah. Ah. And you won’t have to take the test. With your subjugation of an Apostle you’ve already been judged to be stronger than an executive from the Big Three.”

He didn’t have to take the test.

It seemed like he’d be able to avoid something troublesome, but he couldn’t trust the circle just yet.

What if they tried to force him to do something else?

“Are there already rumors of me defeating the Apostle?”

“Not yet. Only a few circles know about it. I only managed to hear about it with luck…”

That’s when he understood what she meant.

Beniang had come here to invite him to join the Traumen Rings.

Frey was surprised.

He didn’t know how things were done in the circle, but he was certain that the Circle Master didn’t go to recruit members personally.

“Have you already decided on which circle you’re going to join?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve heard that you’re Heinz Blake’s brother. And you also have a relationship with the Strow Necklace’s Honor Shepard…”

Even this information was leaked.

Frey had a feeling that these circles were releasing the information on purpose. From what Beniang had revealed it seemed that they wanted him more desperately than he’d originally thought.

“I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“I, I see.”

Beniang tried to calm the flutter in her stomach. At least she didn’t come here for nothing.

She glanced up at Frey’s eyes before continuing.

“What do you think about the Traumen Rings?”

“I don’t have any particular thoughts.”

It was the truth.

Even if the woman in front of him was the leader of an organization bearing his last name, that fact remained unchanged.

Beniang was disappointed.

It could be said that nine out of ten wizards would have great respect for Lucas Traumen.

But now her plan to build a common ground by talking about Lucas has failed before it could even begin.

“…hey, is it okay if I tell you about our circle?”

“I’d love to hear about it.”

When Frey responded in such an unexpectedly positive way, Beniang’s face brightened up considerably.

He was very curious about it.

This was because many of his associates were either directly or indirectly linked to the Traumen Rings.

Peran said that he really wanted to join and Adelia is a member of the Traumen Rings circle.

“Our circle…”

Beniang began explaining with a nervous face while Frey simply listened to her quietly.

Frey’s expression remained the same throughout the explanation so Beniang had no idea what he was thinking.

“…”

And when she was done, Frey quietly brooded over Beniang’s words.

From the other circle members that he’d spoken to, whenever they spoke about their circle it was always wrapped in a veil.

What surprised Frey was that Beniang unexpectedly revealed just how bad the situation of the Traumen Rings was to him.

If her purpose was to recruit Frey, then it would have been better for her to conceal some things.

To put it mildly then, at least she was honest, otherwise, it could be said that she was inflexible.

“If Frey comes to our circle…I can also give you some magic items.”

“Magic items?”

“Yes.”

Frey didn’t realise it, but this was actually an incredibly aggressive move.

Except for the Big Three, the number of artifacts that the circles had in their possessions was not high. At most, there would be two or three and some circles didn’t even have any at all.

In the past, there were only five magic items in the Traumen Rings circles, so giving one to a rookie was quite shocking.

Beniang thought that there would be a change of expression on Frey’s face when he heard this, but he simply lowered his head as if he was thinking about something.

This reaction was rather discouraging for Beniang.

“I’d like to ask you a question.”

“Ah! Yes, please ask me anything.”

She had no choice but to welcome Frey’s words because she just wanted him to show any kind of reaction.

“Is Master Beniang a Dragon?”

For a moment silence descended upon the room.

Clack.

Then Beniang hurriedly stood up from the chair.

She stared at Frey with trembling eyes, unable to hide her agitation.

“Th-, that, that…”

Frey looked at her calmly.

It wasn’t because of the cloak. Frey knew that the woman before him was a Dragon or was related to Dragons, which was why he had a complicated feeling.

However, he began to doubt it after seeing Beniangs reaction. It was far too emotional for her to be a Dragon.

“…why do you say that?”

It seemed that this was the only thing that Beniang could ask.

Frey opened his mouth slowly.

“Dragons don’t have Mana Rooms. Dragon Hearts. The transcendental power source which allows you to use mana immediately without having to accept it from nature.”

It was for this very reason that the mana around Dragons had a different ‘quality’. It changed so that it would be able to accept the Dragon heart’s call at any moment.

It was due to this that Dragons were able to bypass having to cast spells.

The stronger the wizard, the better they’d be able to realise this fact.

Frey’s gaze met Beniangs.

“Master Beniang has a distinctive, pure, unrefined mana.”

“…you seem to know a lot about Dragons. Have you ever met one?”

“That…no.”

At that moment, Frey saw a flash of disappointment in Beniang’s eyes.

She sighed before saying.

“Hooo! Well. Since you’ve noticed that much then there’s no reason to deny it… but I can only be called a halfling.”

“Half?”

“Yes.”

Beniang nodded, putting her hand on her chest.

“I am half Dragon.”