Chapter 116: Oh No, Only Two Legs (3) "Julien, check the outermost rune inscriptions of the magic circle—the section related to mana infusion. Geshtain, the rune letters written in the southern direction seem distorted, so fix that first. And Mary, you…"
The moment Painfolt Artran, who had been adjusting the teleportation magic circle beside Lee Jinseo, lifted his head, his eyes met Fedora Artran's.
Fedora turned her head slightly and examined the magic circle closely, then faintly frowned.
"This is…"
She seemed about to say something, but closed her mouth and began walking slowly around the outside of the magic circle.
After making a full round and returning to her original position, Fedora looked at Painfolt again.
An awkward silence lingered between them. Those who knew the relationship between the two also fell silent, and the atmosphere instantly turned cold.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry I'm late. I had a drink with the Duke yesterday and ended up drinking far too much…"
Oswald Hamilton appeared, clutching his throbbing head, and everyone's attention shifted to him.
"D-did I come too late?"
Sensing that the mood was unusual, Oswald stammered, and Duke Raven placed his right index finger against his lips, gesturing for him to be quiet.
"Ah, um…"
Realizing too late that the two people who should not be in the same place were indeed both present, Oswald stepped behind Duke Raven.
Painfolt resumed inspecting the magic circle, and Fedora silently entered the Additional Trailer of the Mobile Cooking Facility.
This atmosphere is really bad. Will they be all right?
After glancing back and forth between the two, Jinseo approached Painfolt.
Painfolt extended a hand toward Jinseo and gestured sideways toward the Additional Trailer. Jinseo nodded in understanding and stepped inside.
"Cardinal, are you all right?"
"..."
Fedora did not answer. Leaning back against the sofa, she stared at the ceiling.
With her right hand, she traced a large circle in the air, focused on something. There was not the slightest sign that she felt uncomfortable about Painfolt.
"Since you'll be going together anyway, it would be best if neither of you felt awkward…"
"Jinseo."
"Yes."
"Please tell the Headmaster. First…"
Fedora began explaining one by one which parts of the magic circle contained errors, and Jinseo recorded every word carefully on his smartphone.
"It won't fail in casting the magic itself, but the mana efficiency is poor, and problems may arise elsewhere. If you relay it like that, he'll understand."
"Understood."
After finishing, Fedora blankly stared at the wall-mounted TV across from her, which was turned off.
"Shall I turn it on?"
She did not answer. Instead, she traced another large circle in the air with her right hand, as if writing something.
Leaving her be, Jinseo exited the Additional Trailer and verbally relayed what he had written on his smartphone to Painfolt.
"Oh dear…"
Moving to the location Fedora had pointed out, Painfolt looked down at the magic circle with troubled eyes.
Because it was such a massive magic circle, several mages had divided the work by sections. Painfolt would then conduct the final review and correct any mistakes.
The error Fedora identified was in a section Painfolt had not yet checked.
"Even if we had attempted teleportation magic in this state, it wouldn't have failed outright. At worst, the coordinates would have been slightly off—just outside the acceptable margin of error—and the rest would have amounted to minor mistakes."
"The Cardinal said something similar."
"Even so, complacency is forbidden."
The older brother who had never forgotten the mistake of the twin he once called a genius checked again the spot his granddaughter had pointed out and let out a relieved breath.
"It's hard to believe. It's been more than ten years since she left the path of magic…"
Painfolt glanced toward the Additional Trailer where Fedora had gone.
"'Great-Grandfather, you're wrong again! Little Grandfather too! I told you before—this magic circle…'"
"No, that child was always like that."
With a bitter smile, he looked back down at the magic circle.
Crudian Continent.
A vast land of sweeping plains where the centaur race had galloped for centuries.
Through teleportation magic, Jinseo set foot on the unknown continent together with the delegation.
And his first impression of the Crudian Continent was—
It feels like the African continent I've only seen on TV.
It was hotter than summer in Korea or the Doren Kingdom, and endless plains stretched to the horizon without a single highland in sight.
Throughout their travel in the Mobile Cooking Facility, they saw no monsters.
Instead, they encountered far more varieties of wild animals than on the Francia Continent.
It felt like riding a safari bus and watching wildlife, just like in the online videos he had seen.
"It truly is fascinating. It has a charm different from the Francia Continent. And clearly different from the Ashred Continent as well. Just gazing at these vast plains makes one feel refreshed."
"When I first came here, I too simply stared at the land without a word."
Seated in the passenger seat, Painfolt spread out a magic scroll and calculated the distance between their current location and the agreed meeting place.
"We're almost there. Slow down a bit."
Lowering the passenger-side window, Painfolt extended his right arm outside and scattered mana.
In the distance, the mana core he had buried deep underground began responding to his mana and emitted light.
"Is it over there?"
"Yes. Stop there."
As the Mobile Cooking Facility came to a halt at the spot Painfolt indicated, the carriages of the delegation following at a distance stopped all at once.
"This is definitely the agreed location, but they haven't arrived yet."
Stepping down from the Mobile Cooking Facility, Painfolt retrieved the glowing mana core from the ground.
In the middle of the vast plain, a small lake and several trees made the place stand out from afar—an ideal meeting point.
"To think such vast land existed… Truly, one should live long enough to see things."
"It's a shame there aren't any mountains suitable for mining ore, but we can mine that on the Francia Continent. There's more than enough ore in our homeland anyway."
The dwarves who stepped down from their carriages couldn't hide their admiration as they took in the scenery.
Living in underground cities, this was a sight they could never see—something they secretly envied.
"Hyung-nim! This view is incredible! It's a waste just to look at it. I'd love to take it home if I could."
"Shall we take it home?"
Click, click, click.
Jinseo freely captured the scenery of the Crudian Continent on his smartphone camera—views he had been too focused on driving to photograph earlier.
The atmosphere of the delegation had been heavy before arriving on the Crudian Continent because of the uneasy pairing of Painfolt and Fedora.
But as they traveled across the endless plains and watched all sorts of wildlife, it shifted into something like a picnic.
"Everyone must be hungry, right? I'll bring out Gimbap. Jason, Aston Hamilton, please help."
"Understood, hyung-nim!"
"Yes, of course."
For a picnic staple, Jinseo chose Gimbap.
The three entered the kitchen and diligently rolled several varieties of Gimbap to distribute among the delegation members.
And Jinseo personally rolled an oversized Gimbap exclusively for the delegation's sole big eater, Craid.
"That's seriously huge."
As a thick roll stuffed with the combined ingredients of cheese Gimbap, vegetable Gimbap, and tuna Gimbap appeared, Hayward made a weary face.
"Here you go."
"I'll eat well."
Crunch, crunch.
Craid held an uncut Gimbap in each hand and devoured them at a rapid pace.
Gulp, gulp.
"I prefer this over fish cake soup."
After downing about half of the 1.5-liter PET bottle of udon broth in one go, Craid resumed devouring the additional Gimbap Jinseo brought out.
"Give me a Paldo Dosirak!"
"I'll take Big Bowl!"
"You have Cham Ramen, right? You do! I'll have that!"
Even if udon broth paired well with Gimbap, it wasn't enough to fully satisfy one's craving for soup.
Though they couldn't eat as much as Craid, those who felt Gimbap alone wasn't enough lined up in front of the hot-water dispenser with cup ramen in hand.
"Nero, is it tasty?"
–meow!–
Fedora remained inside the Additional Trailer, eating Gimbap with Nero while gazing out the window.
She didn't want to darken the brightened atmosphere again.
Meanwhile, on the large TV, an animated film set against plains reminiscent of Africa, featuring animals, was playing.
"Simba! You can do it! Don't lose!"
"Yeah! That's it!"
As they watched the young lion overcome hardship and become the ruler of the savannah, the delegation members became immersed in the animation.
During scenes where the lion fought its rival, they unconsciously clenched their fists; when the story shifted to an escape from danger, they let out simultaneous sighs of relief.
"Huh? What's this? Why are these guys gathering here too?"
"Well now, I've never seen animals watching a movie before."
Amusingly, the viewers of the animation weren't just the delegation.
Real wild animals passing nearby stopped and began watching the large TV from a distance.
When the protagonist roared loudly, they startled and ran off—only to cautiously gather again and stare intently at the animals appearing on screen.
Finding the scene fascinating, Jinseo recorded it on his smartphone.
If I uploaded this to YouTube, the views would be guaranteed… Nah, forget it. I'd just get comments saying it's fake.
He decided to keep it only to show acquaintances back on the Francia Continent and continued filming.
Flap.
Owl, who had been perched and surveying the area, suddenly flapped its wings and flew to Jinseo's left shoulder.
"What is it? Ah… looks like our guests have arrived."
Jinseo stepped down from the Mobile Cooking Facility and looked in the direction Owl's beak pointed. Seeing that, Painfolt rose to his feet.
The other delegation members also set down their Gimbap and hurriedly wiped their mouths with paper.
"At last, the centaurs and you will meet. You all remember what I said, correct?"
At Painfolt's question, the delegation members nodded in unison.
They had not forgotten his advice: even if they were surprised by centaurs, they were not to stare openly at their lower bodies.
Clop-clop.
They did not take their eyes off the centaurs drawing closer with the sound of hooves.
They tried to look only at the centaurs' faces, just as Painfolt had advised—but before they knew it, their gazes had long drifted downward.
"You are… humans and dwarves, correct? Are you the delegation?"
The centaur envoys, too, had been instructed not to stare at the lower bodies of other races.
But they could not help but stare at the humans' and dwarves' mere two legs.
Next, their eyes naturally shifted to the Gimbap and cup ramen the delegation members were eating.
"Would you like some?"
Jinseo smiled and offered Gimbap wrapped in foil.
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