You call this magic?

"Oh, you're so young, and you still care about this?" A gentle breath passed through his palm and entered his brain, quickly calming his somewhat panicked heart. "Do you feel better now?"

He never thought that the usually eccentric Fulilian also had such a gentle side.

"without……"

"Don't worry, Master is here. Even if you're a man who stands tall and proud, if you're tired, there's no problem in acting like a spoiled child to Master."

Ethan couldn't see Fulilian's expression at all. He could only stare blankly at the starry sky.

Once upon a time, when he was on Blue Star, his understanding of Fulilian was always... that she didn't seem to understand human nature very well.

But now it seems that it is not the same as what is said in the animation.

The real-world Fulilian is more humane than he imagined.

"I swear, Master, this is the last time."

"You are still a child. If you come a few more times, Master will lend you a shoulder to cry on."

"...Did I shed tears just now?"

"no."

"Then what are you talking about?"

Volume 1: The Burial of Fulilian (I): Chapter 23: They Didn't Have to Go Through War

Fulilian did not spend time preaching to Ethan. In her words, only Haita would do that. All she could do was to accompany Ethan and help him get used to it as soon as possible.

Strangely enough, he hadn't had a nightmare since Fulilian rested her lap on him. As he saw more people and things, he became numb rather than accustomed to it.

He finally understood why Fulilian and Celie had such a big disagreement about magic.

The former fears and hates war, while the latter is a pure magician who has walked out of war because only the battlefield can make her feel that she is still alive.

Of course, it doesn't mean that Celie has any big problems. She can be said to have crawled out of the pile of corpses on the battlefield. The only reason she can survive until now is purely due to the magical abilities she has practiced so far. This is related to her growing environment. On the contrary, she did not take the initiative to start a war. Instead, a thousand years later, she still chose to establish the Continental Magic Association and teach magic to humans to fight against the powerful demons. Regardless of her original intention, she is a great magician.

A gentleman judges by deeds, not by heart. That’s all.

Half a month passed in a flash, and Ethan finally recovered from his numb state of mind.

The two had also arrived at their first destination, the capital of the first country destroyed by Minus.

There were ruins everywhere. Standing at the city gate and looking from afar, you could see that half of the king's castle had been blown down and no repairs had been made. You could even smell the stench of the raging fire.

It is in completely different worlds from the Central Kingdom.

However, Ethan discovered that the people who still stayed here had not given up. No matter they were civilians or soldiers in tattered armor, everyone worked together to dig out the ruins, repair houses and roads, clean up garbage, and move corpses... Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

In the eyes of these disaster victims, despair only accounts for a very small part, but what is more is the will to survive.

Not only that, in addition to Ethan and Fulilian, there were many magicians and adventurers who entered this country like them. Most of them came here on support missions issued by the Adventurer's Guild.

As the saying goes, a gentleman judges by deeds, not by heart.

Even if it was for money, the fact that he was willing to come here despite the risk of being killed by Minus who had returned was already worthy of respect.

"It seems that Haita has been here." Seeing this scene, Fulilian's face showed an expression of "as expected".

"Calming people's hearts, organizing disaster relief, and bringing hope are the monks' compulsory tasks, and they're also what they swore to the goddess to do." Fulilian couldn't help but smile. "Sure enough, no matter how much time has passed, that drunkard remains the same."

As long as people have faith, there will be hope. It is true.

"Ethan, what are you going to do?" Fulilian gave Ethan a questioning look.

"Of course, I'll help while I find out about Bishop Haita." Ethan smiled. It would be better to say that he had wanted to take action for a long time.

"Then I will accompany you. Haita did indeed do so."

Over the next week, Fulilian and Ethan went to the worst-hit areas. Fulilian would use the healing magic of the goddess to treat the wounded, while Ethan would use his strength and physical fitness as a warrior to run around.

At the same time, they naturally also found out information related to Haita.

As Frillian said, Haita is indeed the leader of this disaster relief team. There are more than ten monks in total, and some of them are even staying here now. According to the monk, Haita is indeed following Minus's footsteps all the way south. In his words, with his old bones, he will save as many people as possible, and Xinmeier in heaven will be happy too.

After confirming Haita's route, the two continued on their way. From here on, the number of bandits Koukou began to increase exponentially. They were basically ruffians who couldn't survive. Ethan showed no mercy to these people.

Especially after seeing those people in the royal capital working hard to rebuild the country, he looked down upon these people who became bandits.

What? You have the energy to rob but not enough to walk to the capital, right?

In response, Fulilian just watched coldly. Perhaps Xinmeier would give them a chance, but Ethan was not Xinmeier.

"Sure enough, these bastards are no longer human." After hacking and killing another robber, Ethan checked their luggage, which contained a large amount of valuables.

"It seems quite a few people have fallen victim to their murderous attacks... This is the inevitable consequence of war."

"Master, if Minus hadn't started the unrest, would the southern nations have gone to war?"

"According to rumors, that's not possible for now. Xin Meier has only been dead for a dozen years, and the demons haven't been completely wiped out yet. The southern kingdoms are probably providing logistics support, and their supplies have probably all been sent to the northern kingdoms' front lines."

"That is to say, if Minus hadn't taken action, they wouldn't have had to go through the war, right?"

Hearing this, Fulilian looked at Ethan's back, seeming a little surprised.

"...Ethan, you're not going to do something, are you?" It was the first time that Ethan heard a hint of urgency from Fulilian's mouth, so faint that he thought it was an illusion.

"Huh?" Ethan turned around in confusion. "No, Master, don't overthink it. I don't have that kind of strength. If I could kill Minus, I would have rushed south right now. There's no way I'd still be here."

Right.

He breathed a sigh of relief without leaving any trace. He almost thought that this kid was going to overestimate his own abilities, but now it seems that his worries were groundless.

Seven days later, the two arrived at the border city of the second country.

The situation here is even more tragic than the previous country. It is said that Minus has only been gone for half a month. Now, let alone reconstruction, most of them have fled, and the rest are basically unable to escape. They are barely surviving in the few intact buildings, and... a person who surprised Ethan.

"Hello, Ethan. It's been almost two years since we last met. Sorry for not saying hello."

Looking up and down at Levi, who was standing in front of him and looked completely different from before, Ethan asked in surprise: "Why are you here? Are you here for disaster relief as well?"

The blond man cut his long hair and kept a short hair that looked quite young. His temperament was very different from the playboy he used to be. Now he looked more like a serious and motivated young man.

A person's temperament can actually change so much, which means that the previous him was just a disguise.

"That's absolutely right, but I'm surprised that you would come here, and with this legendary magician." Levi looked at Fulilian with a smile, his tone full of respect.

"It looks like this is your friend. You guys go ahead and chat. I'll go somewhere else first." Fulilian didn't give Ethan a chance to refuse and turned and walked away.

Ethan knew that it was probably because being around such a pretentious person made Fulilian feel a little uncomfortable.

Volume 1: The Burial of Furlin (I): Chapter 24: Just Avoid Minus

"What did you say to Fulilian? Even I would be sad to be treated like this by the legendary magician."

Levi smiled very elegantly, and one could actually see a bit of guilt in his expression.

This guy is such a good actor. At least Ethan couldn't see any flaws at all. Fortunately, he already knew what kind of person he was.

Are all the people in the Magic Empire so weird?

Having lived in this world for so many years, Ethan miraculously rarely encounters such sinister characters at heart. It can be said that everyone he meets is too simple and honest.

Ever since he learned from Lelunin that they were responsible for driving away the Imperials, Ethan knew that his attitude had been exposed to Levi.

But judging from Levi's current attitude, he really has no intention of becoming an enemy of the two.

Perhaps because she didn't sense Levi's murderous intent, Fulilian left with peace of mind, and this behavior also signaled that Fulilian had great trust in Ethan's strength.

"So, this is really a coincidence, right?"

"Yes, so you don't have to worry too much. Neither Master Haita nor Master Fulilian are our targets... Can you rest assured? The murderous intent is very scary."

Levi sighed a little: "If possible, I really don't want to be an enemy with a young man like you who has such a promising future... Hey, I've already said that I'm not here to kill them, can you put away your murderous intentions first?"

"So, you didn't come to greet me just to reminisce about the past, did you?"

Ethan asked confused.

Levi's expression suddenly became calm. He turned around, randomly chose a stone from the ruins to sit on, took out a wine jug from behind his waist, unscrewed it hard and took a big gulp.

"Ethan, what do you think when you see the scene around you?" Levi's tone was a little vague, as if he was thinking about something too.

"..."

"I think this shouldn't happen. Powerful magicians, whether they want to or not, have the ability to create such a tragedy." Levi spread his hands. "Celiai, Fulilian, Minus, even the sage Evisi from the mythological era... all of them are like this!"

Levi clenched his fists tightly. "They keep saying they want to delve into magic, but they can cause such a tragedy with just a thought. For ordinary people, living next to such beings is like walking a tightrope. Don't you think this is unreasonable?"

Ethan had nothing to say about this because everything Levi said was true.

For ordinary people, a powerful magician is a natural disaster that may erupt at any time.

Magical talent, not discerning between good and evil.

"Young man Ethan, let me ask you, what is the essential difference between what Minus did and what the demons did?"

Faced with such a question, Ethan shook his head: "The disaster has already happened. For the victims, it makes no difference who did it."

"Absolutely correct." Levi snapped his fingers. "I know there seems to be a misunderstanding between you and me, but I just want you to know why I and the Magic Empire behind me do these things, where our ideas come from, and how we will implement them."

Levi came in front of Ethan and looked him in the eye. "I'm not planning on asking you to kill Fulilian right now, but if one day you think Fulilian will commit a crime like Minus, then you should destroy her as soon as possible."

"So, what you have been doing all along is just watching coldly, and then killing them when everything is irreversible?" Ethan said suddenly, looking at Levi's increasingly excited expression.

Levi stopped suddenly.

"If a child is left to grow up uneducated, no one knows what kind of person he will become. If a ruler of a country does not have ministers to advise him, it is only a matter of time before he is blinded by power." Ethan stared at Levi and smiled. "Even ordinary people know this, and you don't plan to follow suit?"

"I won't let Fulilian become like that. As long as I live, she will never go down that path." Ethan sighed. "I don't know why Minus is like this. I will only cut off the possibility before the worst possible outcome occurs... Have you ever made such an effort even once?"

"More importantly, who gave you the power to judge others before they've even committed any wrongdoing?"

The two looked at each other for a long time, and Levi also smiled: "It seems that neither of us can convince each other, but...if you fail, our invitation will still be valid."

"But the more likely outcome is that the Magic Empire will be destroyed, but Fulilian will remain unchanged as she is now."

"What about you and me?"

"It has long since turned into a pile of yellow earth. I wonder where it is buried."

Today's conversation proved that it was absolutely impossible for the two of them to go down the same path.

"But maybe by that time, I'll be nothing but dust." Levi spread his hands. "Next, I'm going to fight Minus to the death."

Ethan was stunned. He had never expected that their conversation would end like this.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't look like that, okay? It turns out that there's no one like you around Minus, right?"

Levi turned around and left along the road that was no longer clear: "This should be the last time we meet. If I die, more people will come to fight Minus. After all, we are not really bad people."

This last sentence was directed directly at Ethan.

Not a bad guy...?

Ethan didn't know, but at least he felt a bit of respect for the figure that was walking away.

The great magician Minus has gone mad, and if left unchecked it will inevitably lead to even more horrific killings. Although the Magic Empire has ill intentions, not everyone can fight the great magician Minus to the death in order to end this war.

"Are you done talking?" A cold voice sounded behind Ethan. Fulilian came with her usual calm expression, "Just so you know, I eavesdropped."

"Are you so righteous?" Ethan said helplessly.

"Hehe, that kind of thing doesn't matter."

She seemed to be in a good mood.

"Let's go too. I have some good news and some bad news. According to some monks over there, Haita is here."

Fulilian took out a map and pointed to a city on it.

This statement...

Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly: "What about the bad news?"

"The bad news is, Minus's army hasn't left yet." Fulilian looked at Ethan expressionlessly. "Are you really prepared to face that 'rebellious witch' head-on?"

"The truth is, no." Ethan smiled bitterly and shook his head. "How many people can immediately prepare themselves when facing the world's strongest magician?"

"So, do you want to turn back?"

"But Bishop Haita is there." Ethan sighed deeply, "We have to take him back no matter what."

Anyway, someone is fighting Minus head-on, so we just need to go around him.