Ian covered his mouth and nose from the dust and jumped back, dodging the falling debris and avoiding the fire. His hand grabbed his master and pulled him back as well, throwing him to the ground a few meters away from the blasted window before falling right beside him.
"What the-"
The monster, hit by the fire spell, was sent away from the building, nowhere to be seen. Its roars could be heard and the aftershock of its fall could be sensed throughout the floor, making Ian certain that it was still alive yet probably wounded.
"H-holy shit..."
Alaric's hand was still reached out, trembling slightly with traces of mana whirling around it. The mage that attacked the monster was surprised at the result of his own action.
'That spell was cast by Alaric?' Ian looked back between the destroyed wall and his master. 'How can that be the work of someone who started to learn magic only a few weeks ago? There is no way...'
Grrrrr!
At the threatening growl from the outside, Ian snapped out of his daze and pulled Alaric up. They had to leave this place before that monster could cause any more destruction.
"Master!"
The door of the room shot open and Liam rushed in, holding his sword up, ready to fight. The guard halted upon witnessing the destroyed sight of the room, losing his composure.
"Move aside!"
A young girl pushed Liam aside and rushed outside. Evelyn, who was the reason for everyone's lengthy stay in this town, was the first one to run out of the room, seeming too flexible and fast for someone who was bedridden till a few minutes ago.
"We have to leave!"
At Liam's shout, the two men rushed to the room as well, one being dragged by the other.
BOOMMM
"Kieeeeeeeeee!!!"
Behind them, something blasted, and an agonized cry resounded, accompanied by the smell of burnt fur and meat. The floor quacked and cracked from the shockwave and a part of it collapsed due to the impact.
'Damn it, where are they?? I told them to be here one day prior to the date!'
Ian lost his balance with the floor bouncing and fell down helplessly. A huge crack formed beneath his feet. Before Ian could move his whole body was swallowed by the crack as if the floor had opened up a mouth.
"Damn-"
The servant cursed through gritted teeth and reached out a hand, pushing his master aside, away from the crack to prevent him from slipping inside. His body slid down along with the brick forming the floor, descending without anything to stop the fall.
-Master!
A child shouted before jumping up, landing right atop Ian's head, blocking his sight with its tail. The wolf pup decided to follow its master everywhere even if it meant jumping down a collapsing floor.
"Hey- woaaahh!"
Just before his fall, a hand appeared from above, grabbing the servant's shirt. It was unknown what Alaric wanted to achieve by doing that but the only thing he could do was let out a scream before his body tilted forward, falling down the pit alongside his attendant.
"Aaaaahhh!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
It was extremely hard for Ian to resist the urge to punch his master's face and focus on creating a shield instead. Aether flashed around him and circled in the air, taking the shape of a sphere and wrapping around the two falling people.
Bommm
With a loud voice, they fell to the ground and rolled around. Ian kicked his master aside and gritted his teeth so hard that it hurt, raising his body. The shield prevented them from getting injured but didn't block all the damage. He rubbed his sore back and looked around, only to find himself in a dark and shady room.
'We didn't fall one floor but all the way down to the basement?'
The roars of the monster were still audible from the distance and the building kept shaking. The ceiling had a hole in it, big enough for three people to jump down from it.
-It's because of the shield, master. It broke the bottom of the room when we hit it and collapsed the floor!
'So that was it... I might've formed the shield too thick.'
There was no point in finding out how they fell down here, so Ian didn't think of it too much and got up.
"Wow... Was that a shield?"
Alaric was dazedly looking around, confused over the fact that they weren't hurt after falling.
"And what the hell did you intend on doing but grabbing me?"
Ian's shout caused the nobleman to jolt up slightly.
"I wanted to pull you up!"
"Did I ever ask?"
"What the- Do you have to ask for help for me to try to help you?"
"Tsk!"
"Hey! Nothing happened to anyone, so why are you so mad?"
The person whom Ian did his best to push away from the danger jumped down a collapsed floor, disregarding Ian's efforts, for nothing, so of course, Ian would be mad. On top of that, he even blasted the monster with a magic spell, causing the whole situation to accelerate this way.
"Anyway, let's get out of this basement, it's eery in here!"
The building might collapse at their heads at any moment, so it was wise not to stay on the lowest level and leave as soon as possible. The lock on the exit was broken using Alaric's magic and the two left the building immediately.
Grrrrrr!!!
Growwlll!!
"Kyaaahh!"
"Help! Help!"
The monsters were roaming around while the people did their best to run away from them, seeking shelter and help. Alaric grabbed his friend's shirt from behind, pulling him back a little before reaching out his hand. Orange circles formed around his fingers in no time, ready to shoot a magic spell at the savage beasts.
"Stop! Stop!"
Before Alaric could finish his spell, Ian grabbed his arm and pulled it down.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Alaric's brows frowned slightly, "Attacking those monsters?"
Ian pushed his master back, blocking his sight and preventing him from casting his spells. "Using magic against monsters is the worst thing one can do."
It wasn't a widely known fact, but to Ian who spent a lot of time and effort both fighting and studying monsters, this was a proven truth.
"...Why?"
The blue-haired servant raised his hand up, towards the monsters wracking havoc in the city. Tiny golden particles shone on the tips of his fingers before separating from them and moving to the monsters.
"A huge portion of them is constructed out of mana, if not whole."
"Eh?"
The wandering light landed atop the beasts like some random dust.
"Grrr?"
The monsters touched by light paused for a second, looking around in confusion, before noticing the dust that had landed on them.
"GROOOWWWW!!!"
The dust that was burning down their skin akin to hot magma.
"...Wha..."
An astonished gasp left Alaric's lips, blended with the anguish roars of the enraged monsters. No matter how much those beasts tried, they couldn't get rid of the curse that was eating away at their body like a bunch of small worms.
-Master, they are finally here!
At the child's call, Ian shifted his gaze and glanced at the distance, atop a building surrounded by monsters. Dancing among the beasts, a black-haired, black-clothed swordsman could be seen.
"Tell me, Ian," Alaric muttered as soon as he noticed where Ian was looking at. "Aren't we seeing these people way too often?"
In the distance, a boy was slashing monster after monster with his sword. He was moving swiftly, jumping around, and dancing among the beasts as if he were playing around with some toys and not fighting disasters.
"Like, they appear in front of us once in two days?"
"Hmm..." Ian tilted his head to one side and shrugged. "Yeah, it's such a coincidence."
"Coincidence? It's not! I'm sure it's not a coincidence! Nothing related to strong people in a novel can be a coincidence!"
The servant gave his master a side-eyed glance, "What novel again??"
"Don't you know?"
"How would I know?"
Amidst their conversation, Ian raised his hand and opened his palm. A bright light shot out of his hand and hit the monster that was rushing at him head-on. Nothing remained of the monster as soon as the light died down.
"Oh wow, so cool!"
Ian ignored Alaric's exclamation like everything else he said.
"Hey, why don't you use your power to eliminate the rest of the monsters?"
"It's not necessary, neither beneficial."
For his deal with that merchant girl to conclude properly, the monster corpses needed to be as little damaged as possible. Ian's cover purified them all without leaving a trace, so he couldn't use that recklessly.
"Eh? Why?"
Alaric didn't receive an answer.
"That swordsman is killing them so fast, I feel a little bit envious."
With the arrival of Kieran, no danger could threaten the lives of the residents of this town. Even the fleeing citizens stopped to look at the black swordsman who'd appeared out of nowhere to save their lives.
'Now, the only thing left to do is to sneak away.'
This was the perfect chance for him to utilize his plan. Disappearing amidst the chaos was the safest and easiest option for him. Although he felt disappointed about leaving Alaric, someone who was doing a good job at surprising him, there was no help for it if he wanted to move according to the schedule. He couldn't achieve anything by simply sticking to this young noble. With Kieran here as per his request, Ian only needed to sneak around and run away with his royal knight.
'But...'
"Ian, don't wander too far away! Where are you going? Wait for me wait for me!"
Alaric wasn't leaving his side for a single second! What was wrong with him? Why was he so clingy today?
"Why are you moving that way? Our group is still in that inn, I'm sure they are worried about us."
Ian's arm was gripped from behind and his body got pulled back. He resisted the force and freed his arm after struggling for a second.
"I thought I'd go greet Raven and thank him."
"Oh! Then I'll come with you!"
'No, please, get lost!'
Ian took large steps; Alaric fastened his speed.
"But the others will worry about you if you don't go back right now. They'll think something happened to you, master."
"Oh?" Alaric showed Ian a bright smile. "But I think they'll be more worried if I go back alone. Especially Mister Ranger! No no, I'm not doing it."
Ian gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, before breaking into a jog, "Then I'll go greet him and come back soon."
Hasty footsteps followed him from behind.
"Yeah let's get back quickly~"
The man's excited voice echoed in Ian's brain, making his mind heat up from frustration. Was Alaric making fun of him? Was he playing around? What was his deal? He couldn't run away at this rate!
'Should I ask Kieran to knock him unconscious and drop him in the inn?'
But in that case, Alaric would know that Ian had run away. They were already suspicious of Ian and this would make things even worse, not leaving him room to return back later.
'Shall I give up for now and run away later?'
Kieran would understand that something must've gone wrong on Ian's side if he didn't show up by night. He would either follow the convoy again or trace them from behind, waiting for Ian's orders. In that case, Ian still had other chances to join him later.
'That's the safest option for now. Although disappearing amongst a monster breakout was the best option. I could make up proper excuses for that if I ever wanted to go back to Alaric.'
Ian made a decision and, was about to execute it when Alaric pushed his face forward and smiled at him in a rather unsightly way.
"You want to run away again, huh? I knew it! You are so obvious!"
"What?"
Ian stopped in his tracks in an instant, while his master, who didn't expect this, ran a little bit more before stopping when his feet slipped and he fell face first on the ground.
"Ouch ouch!"
His clothes got a little bit torn and a few scratches appeared on his pretty face. Alaric got up, blowing on his itchy and swollen hand, wincing from pain. Ian watched him grumble with his arms crossed, waiting for the man to explain himself.
Seeing the attendant's raised brows and demanding gaze, Alaric flinched slightly, forgetting the pain from falling down.
"Don't look at me like that. You keep disappearing once a week, and return back with those guys, saying that they helped you out. Do you think I'm stupid?"
"...."
"....."
"....."
Ian didn't speak his mind out loud, but his silence expressed his inner thoughts.
"You are so mean!" Alaric's lips pursed a bit. "Right, I am stupid, but I'm not brainless! I can see what you are doing!"
The golden-haired man crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, a posture similar to Ian's.
'Was I that obvious?'
He'd made sure that he wasn't seen by anyone while doing anything out of the ordinary and had given proper excuses for everything that's happened thus far, but it seemed that Alaric had noticed his abnormality. He even questioned Ian's behavior and his changes, an act that showed his clear suspicion of his servant.
'He sticks to me all the time, even in his carriage, so it's not strange if he noticed something off.'
But for that, Alaric must've paid some attention to Ian to find his behavior strange and must've thought things through. Why would he do that?
'Come to think of it, he's always treated me way too friendly for a master and servant to be...'
Now that he thought of it, this was odd. Alaric was timid and shy around everyone else, yet he was so relaxed when it came to Ian. He talked way too much but the contents of his conversation were so random that made Ian bored.
Amidst his racing thoughts, Alaric's voice was heard again. "You weren't even that surprised when all those monsters appeared in the city. I saw that! You were so calm!"
Ian frowned even more, restlessness rising up within his body. A soft, tiny paw tapped his shoulder, patting him soundlessly as if to soothe his anxiety. The child has been sitting on Ian's shoulder the whole time.
"I don't understand what young master intends to express by saying these words."
Ian intently stared at the other man who was suspected to be another regressor, and directly asked for his intentions.
"So you really wanted to run away again?"
"And what if I wanted to do so?"
Alaric's eyes widened and his lips parted to a gape before his lips curled up to a smile.
"Then take me with you as well!"