The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 53: It’s Best to Play (IX)

However, Suradel’s mouth was hung open, seemingly stunned, as if he had never thought of such a situation before.

“That… Amazingly, it’s an ice ball.”

“This…?”

‘If I launch an ice ball twice, I can conquer a continent.’

With embarrassment tinting his face, Suradel scratched the nape of his neck.

“You’re not good at handling mana, and since the amount of mana you have is so vast, that’s probably why the result became a little bigger…”

His gaze turned to the gruesome scene.

“This is beyond imagination.”

I shut my eyes tightly.

‘Mana is vast, I’ve only heard of it, but I didn’t know how much it really is…’

I didn’t expect to find out this way.

“Shit. If I had known that a single ice ball would consume so much mana, I would have been a little more careful…!”

My constitution didn’t allow me to produce mana like a pure-blooded human, so there would be no more mana once I have used it up.

Noticing my expression of regret, Suradel opened his mouth as if to say not to worry.

“It’s okay. When you blew mana into the magic wand, you didn’t do it as hard as you could, you just made a light blow.”

“…That’s true.”

“Did I tell you? The mana in your body is very vast. For you, that was a light level.”

“…But…!”

I really didn’t do anything special, which was why I was shocked by the sudden catastrophic-level magic.

“And there is no need to worry that you’ll run out of mana. Apparently, Lia, you seem to have the constitution to absorb other people’s mana.”

“Huh?”

“You might not have noticed, but when you are close to me, you are taking my mana little by little.”

Like a parasite…?

I wondered if this was a good constitution, then I thought back on his words and noticed a contradiction.

The whale demibeasts claimed they could use magic with the mana in the air.

It was a must because mana could not be generated or stored in their body.

So why did Suradel say that I was taking his mana?

If I was really unconsciously taking Suradel’s mana, how did he store mana in his body?

‘Suradel, what are you…’

It was confirmed that he was a killer whale, but questions about him seemed to be increasing.

When my mind was complicated with various thoughts, he continued speaking.

“But if it’s lightly blown in, it might be better not to use magic at all…”

I glanced at the disaster I had caused and silently embraced the magic wand.

For the sake of peace on the continent, it would be better not to use magic at all.

It was fortunate that at least, the magic wand was easy to use for physical attacks.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Meanwhile, Reynos, the Lord of the Magic Tower Lord… 

He couldn’t sleep well as he searched for the missing Lia every day.

Day by day, his heart was burning.

No matter how much he wandered, he couldn’t find even the smallest clue, and the thought of ‘Is she already dead?’ came to his mind.

He got a note.

[The penguin is with me. We are living happily, so stop fighting attrition and forget about it. Someday, I will return it safely.]

Immediately, Reynos crumpled the note he had read.

As if to show how angry he was, his eyes went beyond ferocity, to the point of terrifying.

“I don’t think there’s anyone crazy enough to dare to play a prank like this on the owner of the Magic Tower, who is going crazy.”

If so, it meant that there was a high probability that the person who sent this note really took Adelia.

Reynos immediately called his aide and ordered the entire Magic Tower to completely stop the search for Adelia.

‘If a powerful person capable of dropping a note to me without leaving any traces decided to hide Adelia…’

He judged that he would never be able to find it with a simple search.

Instead, he decided to investigate the families that were hostile to the Magic Tower one by one.

‘I don’t know why you took my daughter, but one thing is for sure…’

‘If caught, you will be destroyed, I won’t leave a single flake of ash.’

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

After successfully completing the first practice session with Suradel, I went straight to Irpus’ room.

I was worried about her as she was not feeling well in the morning.

Did she enjoy herself too much at the night market yesterday? She seemed to have caught a cold.

I nagged as I removed my hand from her hot forehead.

“I told you to play in moderation and go home because it’s cold, right?”

“But it wasn’t very cold at the time.”

“No excuses, get some rest for a few days.”

Almost as soon as I forced Iprus into the bed, she raised her upper body.

“My lady, I’m really fine.”

“It’s because I’m not okay. Catching a cold because you chased me around? Not a chance.”

Then, as if realizing that her cold could be passed on to me, she backed off.

“Right. That’s nice.”

“It hasn’t been long since I’ve reunited with you… I apologize, Lady Lia.”

I pulled up the sullen-looking Iprus’ blanket to just below her neck.

“What’s there to be sorry about? Don’t worry, I’ll just be looking for the raccoon demibeast.”

“Still…”

“You don’t have to worry about my safety, because I have Sir Hanu and even a magic wand.”

“…But you can’t use magic, can you?”

“Physical attacks are possible.”

“Aha.”

Irpus vaguely stared at my slender wrist before saying,

“Lady Lia. If someone starts a fight, please raise your magic wand and strike down. That will hurt more.”

It was advice worthy of the parasol prophet.

I held her hand and nodded with a determined glint in my eyes.

“I will take your advice seriously.”

“Oh, I believe in Lady Lia.”

With that, I left Iprus’ room and the Weil Castle with Hanu.

Jack said that the place where the raccoon demibeast was last spotted was very close to the Weil family castle, so we didn’t rent a carriage.

As I walked side by side with Hanu, I pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket and threw it away.

Hanu, who witnessed the scene, shifted his gaze with a rather disdainful expression.

“Goodness…”

‘Hey, I can hear you.’

With raised eyebrows, Hanu spoke gently, as if admonishing an immature child.

“Lady Lia, you cannot just randomly throw garbage on the street.”

“It’s not trash.”

“Then may I ask what you did?”

The look on his face was that he couldn’t believe it. I shrugged and replied.

“A note to Iprus’ ex-boyfriend.”

“…What?”

I added an explanation to the dumbfounded man.

“It bothered me to leave the sick Iprus alone. It’s a note asking him to keep an eye on her.”

“You should send a formal letter. Why are you leaving a note on the ground…? But well, even if you send it now, it will arrive in about a month, so it is useless.”

“I think an obsessive nerd like Jack would have followed us.”

Even at this moment, there was a high probability that he was watching us from somewhere.

However, Hanu had a face of disbelief as if it was nonsense.

“Please. The Weil territory is very far from the center, and it would take a full month to get here without travel magic or travel gates.”

It was understandable since he didn’t read the novel.

If it was Jack, the head of the information guild, wouldn’t he have already been mixed in the luggages when Suradel used the movement magic yesterday?

‘He’s a field mouse demibeast, perfect for hiding.’

I looked at Hanu and smiled.

“Would you like to make a bet with me?”

“What kind of bet are you talking about specifically?”

“I’ll bet that Jack followed us all the way to the Weil territory. If I win, give me a piggyback later when my legs hurt.”

“Then if I win…”

“Of course, if you win, there’s nothing.”

At my impudent words, he looked at me with clouded eyes.

Judging by the expression on his face, he seemed to be rethinking.

“I can’t give you a piggyback even if it’s a bet… I think my life will be in danger if I get caught by Sir Suradel.”

“Isn’t it very thrilling and nice?”

Badump badump, risking your life to steal the woman your boss loves unrequitedly!

“I will refuse.”

“Sheesh, Sir Pushover, I’m disappointed.”

“It’s ‘Hanu’…”

That’s how Hanu and my small talk went as we headed to the destination marked in the map given by Jack.

The destination was an area densely populated with residential areas.

I felt hopeless at the thought of finding a raccoon demibeast here.

As I was sighing while looking at the residential area lined with endless houses, Hanu tried to cheer me up with positive words.

“Yes, at least you have the area even if it isn’t that specific… One day, you will definitely find it.”

I stared blankly at Hanu.

‘…Come to think of it, I don’t think I told him why I was looking for a raccoon demibeast.’

Even though I might have doubts, the way he silently stood by me made me feel confident.

In the same line of thought… he protected me when I met a wild boar the size of a house and when I was threatened at the information guild.

“Sir Hanu.”

“Yes.”

“You’re very cool?”

“…Yes? All, all of a sudden?”

In an instant, his pupils grew in size, and he blushed.

“I think the person who marries Lord Hanu will be happy forever.”

That is, of course, if he stopped being a pushover.

Ame: Daddy Reynos makes an appearance!! Kyahhhh!