​"Guess I spoke too soon! What are you gonna do now, gorilla, now that your little toy is completely broken?" Ian taunted with a crazed, bloodstained smile.

​Without hesitating, Ian dashed forward, rushing straight at Friggy with all his monstrous physical strength.

​’Shit, I’m a goner now! Is this how I’m really gonna die?! Should I just run and fuck this whole thing? But he will kill me if I ruin it!’ Friggy thought in pure panic, quickly glancing past Ian at Zena, who was supposedly lying unconscious on the dirt.

​Suddenly, a strange voice that sounded like it was layered with three different people echoed from the crowd.

​"Gravon kor, vethris kera. Torath ishil..."

​The ambient mana in the air rapidly condensed, instantly creating a heavy, distorted pressure all around Ian’s body. With a casual flick of a wrist, a mage barked the final word.

​"Levitate."

​"Wooohh... aaah!! I’m flying! What happened? How is this possible?! Is this magic?!" Ian yelled in genuine shock. He flailed his arms as he floated awkwardly in mid-air, completely helpless. This was the very first time he had ever experienced real magic used on him.

​"Did you really have to make him float, Sarah? Maybe restraining him on the ground or tying him up in vines would have been better," a middle-aged man with dull red hair sighed, talking to a young girl with brown hair standing beside him.

​"Hey, is that..." one of the villagers in the crowd suddenly pointed at the red-haired man.

​"Shit! Get on your knees!" an old guy hissed to his son next to him, instantly dropping to the dirt.

​’Guess the show is over,’ some of the other people thought, letting out relieved sighs.

​"MY LORD!!! MY LORD!!"

​Suddenly, the entire crowd went down on their knees, bowing their heads in deep respect to the old man. Even Friggy immediately went to his knees. But the red-haired man completely ignored them all.

​’Lord?’ Ian thought, still dangling helplessly in the air.

​"Master, I assumed that if I tied him up or trapped him on the ground, he would have broken out of it in no time. He just showed us that monstrous physical strength of his," Sarah explained defensively.

​"That is good thinking, actually. But you do know the levitation spell consumes a massive amount of mana, and your Third-Circle capacity won’t be able to hold him up there for long," the man pointed out.

​"I’m well aware of that, Master. That is why I am always prepared! I brought this mana potion with me to keep dangling him up there," she said smugly, pulling out a small glass vial filled with a glowing blue liquid.

​"It makes me so proud to see you being smart and prepared. I guess my lessons are finally getting through that thick brain of yours," he said with a proud expression.

​"What?! You are making it sound like I’m stubborn!" Sarah yelled at him.

​"Ain’t you? I always tell you to make your incantations flexible and natural, and not to just blindly follow the exact incantations written in the basic textbooks! But no, you always say the textbooks are easier to understand!"

​"Yeah, they are easy to understand! That is exactly why they are in the textbooks! That is how everyone is doing it these days; it’s the modern way. Don’t make me do your hard, outdated old ways," she replied, carelessly shaking the hand that was currently controlling Ian.

​Up in the sky, Ian was violently jerked around.

​"Tch. Children these days are so stubborn. Then why don’t you just call your textbook ’Master’ instead of me?" the man grumbled.

​"Maybe you are right! I should call my textbook Master, since it doesn’t try to make me call a literal book ’Master’ in the first place!"

​"That attitude...You are being disrespectful to me again! I will tell your mother about your crazy attitude," the man warned.

​"Tell her! I don’t care this time, since you started it in the first place!"

​"Tsk. This is the main reason I always regret accepting to teach you magic in the first place," the man sighed heavily.

​"You and me both! It’s not like I actually wanted to be taught by you anyway. I’m a genius in my own right!"

​’Genius, she says. I hate to admit it, but she kinda is a genius in her own way. Reaching the Third-Circle at the age of sixteen is a very big deal in this kingdom. But the Family Head always says there is no need to advertise it and she also refuses to go to a magic and prefers staying hidden. Still... she is using the levitation spell on that Thorne boy right now, and there’s no sign of her actually running out of mana, the difference in talent is huge. I’m kinda jealous unlike me who is still in a 4th stage with my age’ the man thought.

​Then, he glanced to his side and saw the massive crowd of people still kneeling with their heads down. No one dared to complain.

​’These guys... what the hell is wrong with them? If he is the lord of this town, then why is he completely ignoring his own people?’ Ian thought in deep confusion. "Umm... h-hello? I’m kinda still up here! And it’s not really comfortable!" Ian called out. He was slowly spinning around in circles up there and starting to get dizzy.

​"Everyone, thank you for your cooperation! You will all receive the payment that we agreed upon delivered directly to your homes. You are all dismissed," the red-haired man finally announced to the crowd.

​Instantly, everyone started standing up, dusting off their knees, and casually going back to their homes and whatever daily chores they had been doing before the fight started.

​’Huh? What’s happening? What does he mean by cooperation and payment?’ Ian thought, his eyes widening from his mid-air viewpoint. ’Was this whole thing just an act? Was I played for a fool? No... no, that’s not right! I practically saw that kid being punched! He was bleeding and everything, and the anger in his eyes... I was sure of it!’

"Friggy, you are free to go too. And don’t worry about your broken axe; we will cover the costs for a new one separately from your regular payment," the man said to the large, terrified brute who was still kneeling.

​"Zena, can you please stop playing unconscious? It’s kinda disgusting seeing all that blood on your face," Sarah sighed, looking at the boy lying in the dirt behind them.

​"Tch, you guys are the worst. Now he knows it was just a ploy! If I remember correctly, father specifically said not to reveal all this in front of the Thorne boy," Zena complained, annoyed as he sat up and wiped some of the blood off his chin.

​"We don’t remember him saying that at all," both Sarah and the red-haired man said at the exact same time, actively looking away and showing obvious signs of lying.

​’Surely they are lying,’ Zena thought, rolling his eyes. ’I bet this master and disciple just thought it would look cool to make a dramatic entrance. That is probably also the reason they made the whole town kneel for so long. Is her terrible attitude rubbing off on him too?’

"Sis, can you put him down, though? He seems sick with all the random moving around you are doing to him," Zena pointed out, looking up at Ian.

​"Oh, sorry up there!" she said cheerfully, instantly deactivating her magic.

​Ian immediately plummeted and landed face-first in the dirt.

​"Owwww.... You could have given me a heads-up before you did that!" Ian groaned, rubbing his head as he stood up and brushed off the dust. "Anyway... who are you people?"

​"Hey, Sis! Can you heal my face since you are done with him? Friggy is a Second-Stage Aura user; he sure knows how to throw a real punch," Zena complained, completely ignoring Ian’s question.

​"Let me do it. Healing uses too much mana, and she just spent a ton of it levitating this Thorne boy," the red-haired man interrupted.

​"As long as I’m healed, I don’t really care who does it," Zena shrugged.

​The red-haired man casually lifted his hand. Without a single spoken incantation, a thick, green, mist-like mana suddenly materialized out of nowhere in the air. "Heal," he commanded softly.

​The green mist flowed directly into Zena’s battered face, glowing brightly as it rapidly healed his swollen black eye and cuts.

​’Are they just gonna keep ignoring me, or what?’ Ian thought, feeling highly annoyed.

​"Hey, Thorne boy. Bring your hands here and let me heal them for you," the man finally said, turning to Ian.

​"What? My hands? They are totally okay! There is no need for you to worry," Ian panicked, hastily hiding his hands behind his back. ’What do I say when he sees my deep cuts are already naturally healed on their own?!’

"What are you talking about? I clearly saw your hands deeply wounded when you were punching that Aura axe! I even saw a bit of your white skull bone!" the man said, stepping closer and forcefully grabbing Ian’s arm to pull his hand forward. "I didn’t know you were that crazy about fighting to the point of deeply wounding yoursel—"

​He paused mid-sentence, his eyes locking onto Ian’s knuckles.

​"How... how could this be? Your hands..."

​"Uncle, what is it?" Zena asked, stepping closer.

​"His hands... they are already fully healed!" he said, completely shocked.

​"Oooh, you are talking about that? I kinda figured it out when he was fighting earlier. His hands were slowly healing the moment the axe first slashed his skin and till he was punching Friggy’s axe," Zena said, casually walking away. "You are the only one who is slow, Uncle. I bet Sis noticed it too."

​"Yeah, I kinda noticed it too," Sarah said in a low voice. ’And I also noticed weird black smoke coming out of his open wounds... but noone is saying about it and if I say that out loud, I will sound like a crazy person. I should tell father about it, he would believe me,’ she thought to herself.

​"Really? Thats kinda amazing in it’s own way. I guess you really are an Anomaly, huh?" the red-haired man muttered, staring intently at Ian.

’Anomaly, huh’ Ian thought

​"Well since this whole thing was just an act... what would you have done if my hands had actually been cut off?" Ian asked, narrowing his eyes at them.

​"That is a stupid question. If your hands were slashed off, then they would have fallen on the dirt. What exactly did you expect us to do with your chopped-off hands?" Zena replied with a dead serious expression. Then he turned and walked away down the street, with Sarah quietly following him.

​"Don’t worry, boy. Vincent specifically told us you could easily take on a Third-Stage Knight, so for absolute safety, we only sent Friggy, who is a Second-Stage. And from what we saw you could take on a Third-Stage easily, " the red-haired man explained. "And please mind my nephew’s harsh language. They are all a bit spoiled."

"Who are you people exactly?" Ian asked

"Oooh us...nobody told you. We are from the Wilson Family and those guys are the family heads children,"And with that, the man turned and started walking away after the other two.

​’The Wilson Family and Vincent is in on this too?! What is really going on here?!’ Ian thought, left standing completely alone in the middle of the dirt street. ’I still can’t believe I got played this whole time. I think I will never trust and help a person ever again!’

"And where the hell is Isaac?"