Chapter 77: An Escape Worthy of a 8th Trial

Carrying the skeleton and Faye on his shoulders, Magna passed through the door and suddenly found himself in front of Celeste and Titus.

"You’re really back," Celeste said immediately, relief and tears streaming down her face at once, as she hurried to take Faye’s body from his shoulder.

"She should be fine, she just lost consciousness after hitting her head," Magna explained, giving the mother even more relief.

As one of his shoulders went empty, the weight gone, he immediately felt a cold hand take its place.

Raising his head, he looked at Titus’s face, his eyes just visible behind the helmet.

"You did good, Magna. Very good." He said only those words, but the light squeeze Magna felt on his shoulder and the way the man looked at him were enough to show what he truly felt.

It had been an almost impossible mission, saving someone from the hands of a Witch who was probably 10th Trial or higher, and he had succeeded.

If it were a Witch Trial, Magna would now have to be considered to have passed his 7th or even maybe 8th Trial.

After checking Faye’s vitals and making sure she really was fine, just unconscious, Celeste turned her eyes back to Magna.

She stepped closer and hugged him tightly as she whispered, "Thank you."

Magna could feel her trembling slightly, from how much she had feared they wouldn’t come back at all.

After holding him for a long moment, Celeste finally pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "Is this the Witch you talked about? The one hanging from the tree?"

Magna nodded. "She’s Morrigan Cinder. She helped me find Faye, and she saved her life right before Faye was about to get caught."

He looked down at the skeleton lying still on his shoulder and let out a deep sigh.

She was finally dead now.

"She said she was under a spell, so as soon as I got her out of that place, the spell keeping her alive was lifted." He explained further.

"I see." Celeste nodded, while Titus slowly took the skeleton from his shoulder and carried her in his own arms, holding her with the respect she deserved.

She wasn’t just someone from an allied family. Having helped save their children’s lives, she deserved nothing less in their eyes.

"Let’s go, we’ve stayed here long enough already." Celeste finally smiled.

She gave the place one last look, then bent down to take Faye’s body into her arms and started walking toward the carriage waiting to take them home.

—

When Magna returned to the mansion, he went straight to his room, telling everyone he was tired.

No one stopped him, of course. His standing in their eyes had already risen to a whole new level.

Celeste only said she would come later to hear the details.

Magna agreed to tell her everything that happened there, though he planned to keep one small detail hidden.

’Since Faye lost consciousness, and the only one who saw me is dead now, they don’t need to know I cast a spell in there,’ he thought, lying flat on his back on the bed.

He thought Celeste and Titus finding out he could cast spells without becoming a Shadow would come as a big shock to them, though he didn’t think they would give him a hard time for that.

But still, it was too early to let anyone find out, as he just wanted to keep improving silently without drawing too much attention to himself.

He was also grinning widely as he thought back on that moment.

Casting a spell had really been an incredible feeling.

’Well, aside from the fact that I blinded myself.’

His eyes had already returned to normal by now, but it had still been a serious drawback of the spell.

He didn’t know if he had cast it wrong, and that was why the backlash happened, but either way, he had succeeded, and that was all that mattered.

He then checked his mana reserve to see exactly how much it had cost him.

Mana 1.8%

His mana reserve, which had nearly reached one hundred percent, now painfully showed 1.8.

It wasn’t really surprising, since it was Celeste’s strongest spell, though Magna still thought he must have done something wrong and cast it with some kind of flaw.

As he kept replaying that moment in his mind, picturing the mana pattern and thinking about what he could have done wrong and how to fix it, exhaustion finally began to weigh down on him.

His eyes closed slowly as sleep, well earned, finally took him.

—

"When do you think she’ll wake up?" Titus asked, watching his daughter sleeping quietly in bed.

He had already removed his helmet and frost armor, as his worn-out face was now visible.

He looked like he had aged several years in the span of a single day. Even a few white hairs could already be seen mixed into his blond hair.

The stress and worry he had felt while Faye was missing had been too much, with all of it leaving its mark on him, both physically and mentally.

Celeste sat on the bed, stroking her daughter’s long blond hair, watching her sleeping, innocent face as she spoke in a low voice. "There’s no physical wound on her, apart from the small scratches on her arms and legs."

She slowly exhaled. "She doesn’t even seem to have hit her head, she’s fine. She probably just lost consciousness from all the stress and fear she went through."

When she’d checked her daughter’s head, she found no trauma there, not even swelling or redness.

Her body and mind had simply shut down, unable to bear what she’d been through any longer, as if to say, ’Whatever happens next, happens. I’m leaving.’

That alone was enough to understand what kind of horror she had gone through there.

Titus came closer and slowly sat down in the chair beside the bed, rubbing his forehead. "That’s normal. She had to face an enemy that powerful."

Then, lifting his head suddenly to look at Celeste, he asked, "Do you have any idea who that Witch was?"

Celeste shook her head. "I don’t know, but I’ve already informed Aunt Azelith and asked for her help. We can’t just let her roam free out there."

She paused, then added. "I also told my mother everything that happened. She said this whole thing might count as Faye’s trial."

Faye’s original current trial was to kill a red lizard a year from now, but escaping from a Witch that powerful was a big thing, as it could be considered her achievement all the same.

It wasn’t every day that a child who hadn’t even completed her 1st Trial could manage to escape someone so terrifying.

"That’s good news then?" Titus suddenly laughed, the one piece of good news he’d heard all day.

If Faye’s escape counted as passing her trial, she could finally receive her Witch Hat, along with the improvement that would raise her mana capacity, making her strong enough to better protect herself in the future.

For some reason, though, Celeste didn’t look that happy, and the reason became clear when she started speaking.

"In a few days, someone from the tower will come to investigate and decide."

Hearing that, Titus’s laughter suddenly stopped, since this could actually turn out to be very bad news instead.