Chapter 200 – Maintenance (Two)

Philip entered the mansion with Ayla.

Perhaps because the morning routine had begun, children were bustling about the spacious lobby.

“Basic mansion chores are all divided into shifts. Cleaning, laundry, meal prep, buying daily necessities, and so on.”

“Everyone seems very brisk.”

“Hmm… I guess because they’ve all lived in the mansion for a long time?”

Feeling the lively air filling the mansion, Philip asked.

“You said there were 26 people total?”

“No, 24.”

“I must have heard wrong.”

“No, originally there were 26. Two left.”

They said they had expelled two apprentices through a vote.

They were figures similar to the late Binjin’s henchmen, and it was a choice to reduce risk factors for future mansion operations.

“But apprentices are supposed to be the strongest in the mansion. I doubt they left willingly.”

“No, the strongest person in the mansion is someone else.”

Philip tilted his head.

“Who is it?”

“Me.”

“You?”

“Yeah. I’m the strongest. So I used magic to drive out the two who tried to resist leaving.”

Looking into Ayla’s unwavering eyes, Philip found it unexpected.

From what Ray had said, she was clearly described as indecisive and lacking confidence.

‘Well, maybe meeting Ray changed her.’

Thinking it wasn’t a big deal, Philip continued his questions.

“Are there any difficulties related to running the mansion?”

“Hmm, managing money is a bit daunting. There’s money Ray gave us to use as a budget, and we also have separate communal funds we saved up. But no one has ever handled such large sums of money before.”

“Show me the ledger later. I have a very sharp eye for money.”

You…?

Just as Ayla gave him a doubtful look, a boy appeared from the right corridor.

The boy approached a display case in a corner of the lobby, bowed his head, and said.

“Good morning, Hyung.”

What received the boy’s greeting was not a person but an object—a thick book.

Seeing the red cover and golden title, Philip was greatly taken aback.

“Why is that there…?”

Unless he was seeing things wrong, that was clearly the Cromwell Encyclopedia that Ray used to beat up kids on the street.

The boy took out a brush.

Continuing to speak to the book with a respectful attitude, he dusted it off and applied a preservative polish to the cover.

“Hyung, is this pressure okay for the brushing?”

“It seems your skin suffered a lot last night.”

“I’m training every day to become strong like you, Hyung.”

Watching this, Philip twirled his finger near his head and asked Ayla.

“Is he… a bit crazy? He keeps talking to a book.”

“He’s my younger brother.”

“What I meant was, he seems like a friend whose mind works in a very… extraordinary way.”

Seeing Philip flustered, Ayla stared blankly for a moment before letting out a small giggle.

“It’s fine. Everyone in the mansion knows my brother is unique.”

“R-really? That’s a relief.”

“But saying he’s crazy seems a bit harsh.”

“No! That’s not what I meant!”

Ayla, laughing again, explained the mansion’s afternoon routine.

“After finishing our assigned tasks in the morning like this, we have magic lessons in the afternoon. I teach theory, and my brother teaches practical skills. Since my brother and I are the most skilled in the mansion, no one objected. Though it’s only until Ray returns.”

Philip shook his head inwardly.

From what I see, it seems like they’ll keep doing it even after Ray returns.

Choosing not to voice his thought, he asked another point of curiosity.

“Wouldn’t it be difficult for just the two of you to teach all 22 remaining kids? How did you divide the class grades?”

“There’s no grade division.”

“Huh?”

“We split them into Class A and B for convenience, but it’s not based on skill. Each class has kids with Rings and kids without mixed together.”

“Uh… why go through the trouble? That would make teaching twice as hard.”

“Because dividing by grades might make them harbor bad feelings towards each other. Who’s better. Who’s worse. Constantly comparing. I hate that.”

Ayla’s attitude was firm.

Philip thought it was a terribly inefficient policy.

“……”

Soon, he decided not to raise an objection and let it pass.

Ray had delegated all educational authority over the mansion kids to Ayla.

‘Just like he gave me economic authority.’

So regardless of my thoughts, I needed to respect Ayla’s educational policy.

“Follow me, I’ll show you around the mansion.”

Philip followed Ayla, who wore a smile.

One day, two days, a week, ten days.

Time raced swiftly to the last page of the calendar.

The December wind was bitterly cold and sharp, but the mansion kids didn’t feel the cold as intensely as last year.

Perhaps, thanks to each other’s warmth.

After chores and lessons ended, they could play in the snow-covered front yard, radiating dynamic energy.

“Die!”

Squeak! Thump!

Thud!

Philip, hit by a snowball thrown by Ain, fell in a big character shape.

“Uahahahaha!”

Despite a bruise forming on his cheek and a sharp pain rising, Philip looked up at the sky and laughed heartily.

Snow was falling.

Snowflakes of a murky hue.

Though clearly having some negative influence like black rain, the fluttering snowflakes had a magic that irresistibly tickled the children’s hearts.

“Die! You evil Wizards!”

“You’re the evil one! You Binjin-like bastard!”

“Woof woof!”

The front yard was bustling.

Of course, not all the mansion kids participated in the snowball fight.

Some were introverted by nature, or worried about their health, with Ayla being a prime example.

“Kids, come in now. It’s already been 3 hours. If you get too much cold wind, you could catch a cold─.”

Thump──!

That is, until she took a snowball right to the face.

With the clump of snow falling away, the girl’s icy-cold face was revealed.

Whoooosh──!

A blizzard swirling around the girl.

Hundreds of snowballs generated inside fired in all directions like a machine gun.

“R-run away!”

“Ayla’s going berserk!”

“Ain! Try to stop your Noona!”

“If I fight, I’ll lose!”

The days were peaceful and busy.

The mansion kids quickly adapted to the daily life without Binjin.

And Philip’s work of understanding the businesses and figuring out what needed attention also progressed smoothly.

But, everyone felt a sense of emptiness.

The absence of a certain person only proved their existence more strongly.

Mansion third-floor terrace.

Ain, Philip, and Ayla, the three of them, watched the fluttering snowflakes as they talked.

“Chief Manager Hyung, when is Ray Hyung coming back?”

“It’s about time he should be back soon.”

“Yeah. Philip’s right. Ray said he’d be back within two weeks at the latest.”

What if something happened to Ray and he can’t come back?

Such talk didn’t come up.

Not so much because of anxiety, but because they couldn’t imagine Ray being stuck and unable to move forward due to something.

But.

“Hyung, I miss him.”

“Yeah.”

“……”

It was an undeniable fact that the hole in their hearts was gradually growing.

It was a feeling all the other kids, who could now live a different life free from Binjin’s clutches thanks to Ray, felt similarly.

And so, a few more days passed.

“He’s here!”

A child taking lessons looked out the window and shouted loudly.

A bus was passing through the gate and entering.

“Ayla, maybe we should pause the lesson and go check─.”

Ayla, who was at the blackboard, had already disappeared outside the wide-open door.

The kids rushed out of the mansion in a crowd, following Ayla.

Vroom vroom, Screeeech─

The bus stopped in front of the mansion.

The windows were tinted, so the inside wasn’t visible.

Perhaps they were gathering luggage inside, as no one got off for a while.

The children’s emotions gradually heightened.

Then finally.

Psssssh──

The door opened, revealing someone.

“Huh…?”

“Um…?”

Seeing a man with a rugged, unshaven, menacing appearance, the kids were utterly bewildered.

The man also seemed very flustered seeing the crowd of kids.

Ayla muttered in a confused voice.

“From what I remember, the only ones who left by bus were Ray, Veronica, and the driver uncle…”

He didn’t look like the driver uncle they’d seen before.

Philip adjusted his glasses’ nose pad with his finger and spoke in a confident voice.

“Ray came back having become much more of a man. Seems the Ruins were quite a place.”

A bewildered Ayla asked back.

“That’s Ray?”

“Yeah. Women might not understand, but hardships that don’t break your existence always make a man grow a lot. I also started growing a beard after I fell over a rock and didn’t cry.”

Then a green-haired woman in a bucket hat got off.

Philip nodded.

“Veronica has matured a lot too. Seems she was under so much stress her hair color changed.”

“That’s impossible!”

“Noona…! What on earth happened to you…!”

As the Ayla siblings and the kids were adrift in a storm of confusion.

Tap.

Behind the man and woman, a boy and a girl appeared.

Instantaneous silence.

Under everyone’s focused gaze.

Ray, having looked over the kids once, opened his lips and spoke.

“I’m back.”

Like a whisper, softly.

Mansion reception room.

Ray listened to Ayla, her sibling, and Philip tell him about what had happened in the Sector during his absence.

“You’ve all worked hard.”

Dry, but a sufficient remark.

Unable to hide his excited and thrilled heart, Philip asked.

“How about your side? Any results?”

“There was a big result.”

Ray summoned a yellow gem and placed it on the table.

Seeing the gem in its complete form, Philip exclaimed in bewilderment.

“You found its pair…!”

“Right, luckily I found the other half and could merge them.”

Then Ayla, unable to contain her curiosity, chimed in.

“Is this maybe the Rainbow you mentioned before? The one you were looking for?”

Dazzling radiance.

The impossibly pure Mana swirling inside.

Being Wizards, Ayla and Ain could instinctively tell this was no ordinary Charging Stone.

Ray answered.

“Probably, yes. To be precise, it would be one of the seven fragments of the Rainbow.”

Ray briefly explained the process leading to merging the yellow gem.

From what happened in the Ruins.

To what happened in Rael Row.

Hearing about Vicious, Philip spoke with a hardened expression.

“If an Executive of Mercread visited the Ruins first, that means the probability Doctor knows our location and movements is very high.”

Nodding, Ray took out Walter’s Ring from his pocket and fiddled with it.

“Right. The Binding Magic that shows the enemy Executives’ locations is also malfunctioning. But I don’t think Doctor will reveal himself before us right away.”

“Based on what grounds?”

“For some reason, Doctor is wary of me. It’s not certain since it’s based on the enemy’s words, but I think it’s probably correct. For how to handle things going forward, I’d like to discuss it together once Curiosa arrives.”

Philip and Veronica expressed agreement.

“Good. I think that’s right too.”

“Curie will have a lot to tell us. She said she’s been watching Doctor for a long time.”

Then one of the Ring’s Arrows spun around and stopped abruptly.

It was pointing clearly towards the mansion gate.