Chapter 136: Don’t Be Nervous

[Wanderer “Buguo” has requested to join Sunset Territory. Do you accept?]

…

[Current population: 9/13]

Just one more person to go…

Su You double-checked the population count, then got ready to check out the person who’d suddenly applied to join the territory while she was chatting with Buguo.

This person was the only wanderer among the four—his name was You Ai.

Although wanderers generally have a high chance of joining a territory—as long as you don’t give them a terrible impression, they rarely refuse—it was still a bit odd for someone to join so abruptly, before anything had even happened. Unless, of course, he was another “Yousen” with a hidden agenda, but otherwise, it didn’t really make sense.

As luck would have it, Su You was just wondering where he was, and after making half a round of the territory, she spotted someone lurking rather suspiciously at the entrance of the tavern.

“Lord!” You Ai was startled when a shadow fell across him, and when he turned to see Su You, he jumped again.

Seeing how jumpy he was, Su You asked what he was doing there, while at the same time opening up You Ai’s personal info panel—

[You Ai]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 69

Affection: 32

Talent: Magic (55)

Skills: None

Trait: Mediocre (No distinguishing features)

Description: A wanderer with a certain degree of magical talent, but nothing particularly special.

…

Su You had already glanced at his info when he applied to join, but since Buguo was there at the time, she’d only skimmed it.

Now that she looked more closely, she realized there wasn’t much to see—compared to the others, You Ai’s information was really sparse.

Still, even with so little info, Su You could guess why he was here.

“Why are you squatting here? You can just go inside, you know.” Su You’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for Meike inside to hear.

Meike, who had finally stopped what he was doing, played with a small flame in his hand, then looked up at the two people near the door.

“Oh, you’re still here.” Meike had noticed someone lurking outside for a while, but since the guy didn’t seem to mean any harm and wasn’t bothering him, Meike hadn’t cared about being watched.

Of course, he also knew this was Su You’s territory. Even if he didn’t like being spied on, he had to give Su You some face and couldn’t just act out.

But now that Su You had caught the guy, even Meike couldn’t just pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

“No, I just…” You Ai stammered, looking awkward.

He hadn’t really done anything wrong, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d committed some terrible crime.

He wanted to leave, but with Su You and Meike both watching him, he couldn’t just walk away. After hesitating for a while, he finally blurted out his reason.

“I—I just wanted to see the boss’s magic…” As he spoke, he glanced at Meike out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge his reaction.

His cautious little movements made it clear he was worried Meike would be annoyed or disgusted by his request, but Meike didn’t react at all—as if he wasn’t the one being spied on.

“Do you want to learn magic? Or are you just curious about it?” Su You could see his info panel, and with his magic talent, it wasn’t hard to guess that You Ai most likely wanted to learn magic.

Even though his talent was low, as mentioned before, people with any magical talent at all were rare on the continent. So even a low talent put him ahead of 99% of people.

“I want to learn magic!” Since he’d already been caught spying, and had basically told the truth, there was no point in lying now.

Might as well be honest, rather than leave a bad impression on the mage and the lord—though given his sneaky behavior, he figured their impression of him wasn’t great anyway.

If it were anyone else, Su You might have just nodded and left, but You Ai was different—he had magical talent, and he was now one of her people.

Even though their current combat strength was enough to handle the upcoming dark creature attack, Su You still wanted more fighters in the territory. After all, there was another monster cage to deal with in a few days, and the dark creature attacks were a recurring event—they’d only get stronger and more numerous each time.

“Meike.”

Hearing Su You call him, Meike curled his lip, clearly reluctant.

He’d already given up magic for cooking—why would he waste his precious cooking time teaching someone else magic?

No way!

Unless…

“Just help me test his attributes. I have something that can let him change class to mage, so you don’t have to worry about teaching him the basics. All you need to do is show him how to use magic and teach him a few simple beginner spells. If he learns quickly, I’ll get you a brand-new set of cookware.” Su You knew Meike’s temperament well, so as she asked for his help, she dangled a reward he couldn’t refuse.

Ingredients, cookware, recipes, cooking manuals… these were all irresistible to Meike.

“Deal!”

Sure enough, as soon as Meike heard Su You’s promise, he rushed out of the tavern and grabbed You Ai’s hand.

You Ai was startled yet again.

If he hadn’t just overheard Meike and Su You’s conversation, he would have thought the mage was about to attack him.

Since this was his first time interacting with a mage—the thing he’d dreamed of—You Ai was so nervous that his hands were shaking, especially the one Meike had grabbed, trembling like he had Parkinson’s.

Meike glanced at him, and thinking of the promised reward, resisted the urge to curse. He forced what he thought was a gentle smile, though it came out a bit twisted: “Calm down, don’t be nervous. I’m just checking your elemental affinity.”

Because he was so nervous, the magic elements inside You Ai were extremely active—so active, in fact, that they were practically chaotic.

(End of chapter)"