Everything is a process.
Jared knows this all too well.
After that night, Tawana seemed to be a different person, she was not so silent and began to return a little to her usual happy self. But the two men noticed that there was still a cloud in her expression, and it was clear that Tawana was devastated by the boy's betrayal. She was still a child, trusting everyone she was supposed to trust, but in this case, if someone betrayed her trust, then she would instantly magnify that uneasiness, and even question whether or not her judgment had been correct all along. Right now, Tawana is in such a stage.
But perhaps because Jared had saved her life, Tawana had warmed up to the two men and no longer avoided them as she had before. But she was still a little farther away from Jared and closer to Caroline, who was of the same sex. It made Caroline wonder what had happened that night, but she shook her head and sighed as soon as Jared told her the whole story.
(Cutting off the head of a boy she once trusted with your hands in front of a girl? Only you can do that.)
"I don't believe he will surrender."
Jared twirled his teacup helplessly, and he knew what the problem was.
"That's why I had to do it, and besides, I thought it would be a curse to keep him around."
（What, to get rid of a future love rival?)
"Are you kidding me."
Jared gave Caroline an uncharacteristic glare, while the latter hid a soft laugh.
"There's something wrong with that guy, and you weren't there, otherwise, if you'd seen the look in that kid's eyes, you probably would've done it faster than I did."
(Has ... examined the body yet?)
"I'm not interested in dead people, and whatever he was trying to do to Tawana, it didn't work."
At that time, the reason why Jared was so quick to strike, in addition to Tawana's life was at stake, there was also a more important reason, that is, he saw a hint of a trick in the eyes of the teenage boy about to succeed in the triumph of the look of satisfaction. Luckily, he was too young, a fourteen year old kid after all, to hide the excitement well enough for Jared to capitalize on the fleeting opportunity. Luckily, Tawana didn't seem to be in any trouble, and Jared found a peculiar piece of what looked like a shard of glass in the boy's grubby little hand. But when he picked it up, it shattered of its own accord, and Jared got no real useful information.
And after that, there was nothing more important than disposing of the property Florence had left behind. Jared and the others didn't know what to do with the scroll, but Tawana knew exactly what to do, they went to the Glory City's law-enforcement agency to perform a series of strange magical rituals, and then Tawana became the true heir of Florence's remaining property. In fact, all of Florence's possessions totaled only 50,000 gold coins.
It's not much.
But it's enough to give Tawana a comfortable life.
Since Florence was a traveling merchant, he didn't have his own store, so there was no problem there. But it was obvious that the money earned by this traveling merchant wasn't much either. Because according to Tawana, the Wizard Academy is a very expensive place, and for her tuition fee, Florence has spent a lot of money, so it's no wonder that this is all he has, and it's not even as much as a big merchant's income for a year.
But Jared and Caroline didn't care, after all, they weren't used to living in luxury. Moreover, they had already claimed the 500 bounties, which were enough to last them for a while. Although Florence had originally offered them her fortune, neither Jared nor Caroline had any intention of accepting it. It was an elder's legacy, and they didn't need to add a stake to it. Besides, this was the life they wanted.
Now, they're facing another problem.
"Brother Jared, are you sure you don't need leather armor?"
Looking at Jared and Caroline, Tawana whispered worriedly. After all, she was about to return to the magic academy for classes, and as her "guardians", Jared and Caroline would naturally accompany her. According to Tawana, she was now a magic envoy, barely able to cast small spells through gestures. But since she couldn't sense the spirit of magic, she hadn't been able to make a contract with the spirit of magic, and couldn't become a Chanting Envoy. Eventually, if little Tawana worked hard enough, she might be able to become a magician within ten years, and at that time, she would need to listen to her voice to see if it had any seductive power over the spirits of magic, and if it did, one of them might materialize and sign a contract with her, and then Tawana would be able to become a Trainee Chanting Envoy, and enter into the field of true chanting.
To Jared, it didn't seem like such a difficult task, Tawana's voice was sweet and frankly with a hint of tenderness, it sounded so pleasant that it shouldn't be a problem, but Tawana herself obviously didn't think so.
"As a matter of fact, it is possible that magical spirits like to sing in a way that is not the same as humans; there have been a few great chanting ambassadors in history, but their voices were authentic gongs ..."
At this moment, they were already on their way out of Fort Glory in a carriage. According to Tawana's words, the magic academy where she was studying was located in the capital of San Marino Empire, and Fort Glory was the border trading city of San Marino Empire. And now there is not much time left for school, although Tawana is still very sad about her father's death, but she had to cheer up, after all, the rules of the academy are very strict. No one was allowed to come to school late for any reason.
Sitting in the wagon, little Tawana was still a little uneasy because Jared had finally refused her offer to buy the other girl two pieces of leather armor for defense, not even a weapon. This was a great disappointment to the little girl, who was rarely able to muster up a bit of wizarding courage, but it was clear that there was a much more important problem to be solved at the moment.
"You mean, you want to know what we're capable of?"
Jared leaned against the wall of the wagon and eyed little Tawana curiously, while Tawana nodded vigorously.
"Magic, magic messenger are to know the ability of the 'guardian', so that the magic messenger can adjust to the most powerful state according to the ability, choose defense or attack ..." the small Tawana said here, timidly glanced at Jared, then added." This is what the teacher said."
(Tawana, don't be afraid. Jared won't eat you.)
Caroline looked at Jared, who was obviously considering just how much information he should tell Tawana about himself and Caroline.
Finally, he nodded.
"All right, Tawana. But let me make it clear that we don't use our powers until we have to. So I can only tell you what we use most often in battle, and other than that, I can't tell you right now. Do you understand? And you can't tell anyone about our powers, no one."
"Uhh! I promise."
Tavana nodded heavily, a hint of determination in her eyes, much like Florence.
"Okay."
Jared let out a long sigh, then pointed first to Caroline.
"I think that you already know what Caroline is capable of."
(My 'Thought Communication' can work within a radius of 100 meters, and if I simply lock onto a person, it can extend to a distance equivalent to half of Glory City.) However, Tawana, you should know that my ability only works when someone speaks, after all, this isn't mind-reading.)
Caroline began by addressing Tawana.
"Caroline basically serves as the liaison and targeting officer, and she can also communicate with animals."
"Really? Sister Caroline?"
Upon hearing this, Tawana's eyes widened and sparkled with excitement, and she looked very excited.
"Can you understand what the animals are saying?"
(... hmm.)
Caroline hesitated, then nodded.
"Now, that's all you can know."
Jared looked at Caroline's golden right eye, the power of that eye was too great for Tavana to know now, and even if she did, she might not understand it.
"And I ..."
Jared pointed to himself.
"I can manipulate light and change it at will."
"Manipulating light?"
Tavana repeated with confusion, like the people of that world, she only knew what light was, but what it could be used for other than illumination, what light itself actually was, she didn't know.
"Invisibility,Mirage ... It's enough for you to know that I'm capable of doing this."
Jared had no intention of explaining the specific applications and effects of light to a 14-year-old girl, so he picked the simplest.
"Invisible ... like you did the other day brother?"
Tawana immediately recalled the day Jared had appeared there almost out of nowhere.
"That's right, simply put, I can make myself invisible, and I can make those around me invisible as well. But to be honest, I wouldn't recommend this ability to anyone else."
"Why is that?"
Tawana was very puzzled, if she could be invisible, wouldn't it be more convenient to fight? There's no way to fight an enemy you can't even see.
Jared didn't give her much of an explanation, but shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe you'd like to try it?"
"Ummm!!!"
Tawana just nodded excitedly in agreement, and then she disappeared.
Almost immediately, Tawana began to feel fear. She subconsciously looked up and down, but there was nothing to see, no body of her own, no shadows, nothing. Even the soft cushions didn't look like they were sinking in." She was here, but the message in her eyes said she wasn't. The sudden feeling of fear, as if she had disappeared from the world, quickly came over her. Tawana panicked, touching her body, trying to grab her clothes and hair, but she could feel her presence, but she couldn't see at all. Because everything that could make her exist had been distorted by Jared.
"...!!!"
Finally, Tawana's surprise and fear reached a peak, she subconsciously wanted to cry out, and just at that moment, only to hear Jared lightly snapping his fingers, her body returned to its original state. Everything could be seen, everything could be touched, and this even made Tawana break into a smile, then she realized that her action was a bit shy and hurriedly lowered her head.
"That's why I said I wouldn't recommend this to anyone."
Jared regarded Tawana with a gentle gaze. How does a human being make his presence known in the world? Naturally, he needs to be noticed, and if he can't be seen by others, he can't even be seen by himself. In the long run, the concept of "self" will become blurred, and eventually dissipate. Jared once used this power on an enemy of his, making him invisible for a month. Then the man who couldn't recognize himself, or let others recognize him, had a nervous breakdown and crashed into an oncoming train. And Jared believed that by that time, even his "self" had disappeared.
Therefore, he seldom used this power on others, because even if he was prepared for it, not everyone could accept the shock of his "self" disappearing from the world in an instant.
"Next ..."
Jared stretched out his right hand, black lines of runes snapped out, then formed a sharp, double-edged longsword in his hand.
"It's time I told you about our weapons."