Chapter 54: Never Ignore Appetizers Again (1) (54/225)
On the day Jinseo and Craid's group fought a bloody battle with the Cockatrice King, the Dean of the Doren Mage Tower—Painfolt—was in his private study, writing a spell formula.
With a NuuX Bar clenched between his teeth.
"Haa… it's not going well."
He set his quill down on the desk and propped his chin on his left hand.
A few months ago, when he visited the food truck for the first time, he encountered the new world called ice cream.
Thanks to that, he was able to complete a new space-transfer magic circle that had been stuck for a long time, and proceed to the next stage of spell research.
Stacks of spell formulas—completed far faster than in his youth—were piled high on his desk.
And yet, he couldn't be satisfied.
"If it were my younger brother, he'd have finished a spell like this in no time."
Once, he kept his distance out of inferiority, but now—his younger brother had left for a place he could never reach again, even if he wanted to see him.
As he recalled his brother's last departing figure, the NuuX Bar stick sat in his mouth.
Even if he wanted more, he was only allowed three ice creams a day.
He had no desire to experience again the headache he got back when he experimented to see how many he could eat in one day.
Paaaat.
"Oh dear! Where is this again? Did I fail again?"
With a burst of intense light, someone's voice came from a corner of the study.
"What is this?"
The NuuX Bar stick dropped from Painfolt's mouth with a soft thud.
A man revealed himself as the light faded.
His face was clearly that of an adult male, but he was unusually short.
"I picked a place with a strong concentration of mana as my target point—so is there a skilled mage here? Ah! Is it you?"
The short man spotted Painfolt and walked toward him.
Painfolt only stared blankly at him.
He couldn't understand a single word coming out of the man's mouth.
For someone who could speak most of the languages used on the Francia Continent, it was beyond awkward—he was outright flustered.
"Could he be non-human? If so…"
He recalled what the disciples who had accompanied Oswald's procession had said.
"What was it Jinseo showed us again? I think I saw a non-human race in that movie. Short, with a thick beard…"
"…A dwarf?"
"…Human?"
They both left questions hanging, but no answers came.
They couldn't understand each other's language.
"You're small."
"You're tall!"
Two beings of different races spoke while looking at each other from different heights.
They still couldn't understand each other's words, but sensing the mana within each other's bodies, both reacted with interest.
"Are you a mage?"
If he weren't a mage, he couldn't possibly hold that much mana… Damn it, I can't understand him! This is driving me crazy!
The short man thumped his chest with his right hand.
Despite his small frame, his hands were large and thick—more like a warrior's than a mage's.
"This feels like some ancient language that isn't used anymore… I don't know it."
Painfolt was just as frustrated.
But they couldn't keep trading words they didn't understand forever.
"You won't understand me, but wait here."
He was about to head to the tower's library, where ancient-language books were stored, when Painfolt suddenly remembered something.
"Ah… right. I have that."
He opened his subspace storage and pulled something out into his hand.
A pendant his younger brother had made more than ten years ago by processing mana cores.
He handed the pendant to the unknown man and gestured for him to put it around his neck.
"Can you understand me now?"
"Huh? You can speak our language?"
"Now I can finally hear you properly. The pendant I gave you just translated it."
"Really? That's possible?"
The dwarf mage pinched the ornament part of the pendant and held it up to his eyes.
"Incredible! There are dozens of spell formulas inside this tiny pendant! If someone can make something like this, they must be an extraordinarily skilled mage! I knew you weren't ordinary the moment I saw you…"
"I didn't make it."
"Oh, is that so? But you—are you really human? You're so tall, you match the humans described in the fairy tale books I saw as a child…"
"And you really are a dwarf—one of the legendary races?"
Now that they could communicate, they confirmed each other's race and nodded.
"This is my first time meeting a dwarf."
"And it's my first time seeing a human!"
An encounter with an unknown being.
After briefly sharing their impressions, the two simply stared at each other in silence.
"Come to think of it, I should explain how I ended up here. The thing is—whoa!"
Mid-sentence, the dwarf mage suddenly collapsed with a thump.
"Nngh… I used too much mana. I've got no strength left."
"Mana exhaustion."
Painfolt opened his subspace storage again and took out one NuuX Bar from a black bag.
When he tore open the wrapper, cold air spilled downward from the bar inside.
"Want one?"
"Do I have to wear this around my neck too?"
"No. It's a dessert. But it's not an ordinary dessert. Take a bite."
"Dessert? What I need right now is alcohol. Got any beer?"
The dwarf mage mimed tipping a mug.
Painfolt didn't answer—he just kept holding out the NuuX Bar.
"No booze? Tch. Fine. I'll take that, then."
With a face full of disappointment, he took a huge bite of the NuuX Bar.
"Ooooh! This taste—!"
Then he shouted in delight, as if his disappointment had never existed.
"That's the food called ice cream, sold by Jinseo's food truck."
"Jinseo? Food truck? Ice cream?"
The dwarf mage snapped his eyes wide open and lifted his head.
The exchange between humans and dwarves—long since cut off—began again with the NuuX Bar Painfolt had offered.
"Huh? Oh, crap!"
The moment "Korea" came out of someone else's mouth, Jinseo belatedly realized something and called the AI.
{I forgot to wake Nero and Owl. Wake both of them.}
{Yes, understood.}
The moment Jinseo gave the command, the extra trailer was wrapped in light.
A moment later, through the opened window, Owl and Nero sprang out in a blur.
—Nyaong!—
And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, the two spirits' chase began.
…
"Everyone—want some bunsik as an appetizer?"
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