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Chapter 126: Breath of the Red Dragon That Followed Us in Secret

Since mother and daughter rarely met, Selina took Elyanna somewhere unknown and did not follow them outside the city.

Meanwhile, Reiner led Nora, Martina, and four beast-eared girls with magic talent outside to hand out staffs to them.

They were Peggy, Epic Fish Pasha, Rare Sheep, and Rare Bird.

Among the 10 beast-eared girls he had purchased so far, only these four possessed decent magic talent.

The others all had Spirit ranked D or E, so they were essentially incapable of learning magic.

Seeing Nora and Martina looking for targets to test the sword, he focused his gaze on the ebony staff in his own hand.

A colorless, transparent gem sat at the tip of the staff; it looked rather pretty, though he had no idea how it would perform.

Reiner released five different elemental spells one after another and fired them at a distant boulder.

In no time the boulder shattered into pieces until nothing but crumbs remained.

The staff was quite good, providing respectable bonuses to all five elements, roughly halving mana consumption while doubling power.

Although it was not as overpowered as Breath of the Red Dragon, its quality was about on par with Junice’s staff and could be considered top-tier.

Reiner looked back and saw the beast-eared girls staring in amazement.

(He can use five elements!)

(Amazing! Master does not even need to chant!)

(What was that? It looked incredible!)

Peggy was even more shocked, furrowing her brows as her view of the world cracked: (He can even use lightning-attribute magic; that makes five elements already.)

(There are far too many strange things about him, and yet I am not even surprised…)

Reiner said to them, “Stop spacing out, line up and come get your staffs; these will be your weapons from now on, so take good care of them.”

The four demi-humans quickly formed a line and came forward one by one to receive their staffs.

They were fairly polite and thanked Reiner after receiving their gear.

Peggy in particular brushed her tail across Reiner’s hand on purpose after she thanked him.

The little fox was anything but honest.

He still had things to do, so he would discipline her another day.

“Of the four of you, does anyone not know magic?”

Although Appraisal showed they possessed magic talent, various factors might have kept them from awakening it, so it was safer to ask first.

As expected, the four beast-eared girls looked at one another, and finally the sheep girl and the bird girl raised their hands in unison.

Reiner sighed and imitated what Junice had done back then to guide their awakening.

“In a moment you will see a crystal and various colored mists; tell me the size of the crystal, then tell me the color of the mist.”

The two demi-humans nodded and closed their eyes to concentrate.

Suddenly the sheep girl whispered, “I see the crystal; it is like a round stone that I could barely hug with both arms spread, and as for the mist…I only see an earthy yellow.”

The bird girl said carefully, “Same here; I see a crystal slightly larger than my body, and the mist is green.”

Reiner patted their heads and encouraged them softly, “Well done; little Sheep awakened earth element magic, and little Bird awakened wind element magic.”

They nodded woodenly.

When he had time later, Reiner planned to teach them spells of their respective elements.

Reiner asked Pasha, “What spells do you know?”

“Only the most basic Water Orb.”

“I’ll teach you Heal Water in a bit.”

Before Reiner could answer, Peggy leaned in and volunteered, “Benefactor! I know Fireball, Flame Tornado, and Firewall! Is there anything you want to teach me?”

Reiner muttered, “You already know more than I do…”

Although Reiner truly did not know the incantations for those spells, he felt there was no real need to learn them.

If he kept compressing flames inside a Fireball, a Flame Tornado would naturally form once it reached a certain threshold.

Firewall was even lamer.

It offered almost no defense against physical attacks, was barely effective against other spells, and could only block same-element magic or hinder an enemy’s advance.

Most importantly, the skill was not even a ranged cast.

It did have its uses, but overall it was too situational.

Had Reiner been unable to learn Radiant Barrier, he would definitely have dissected this spell word by word.

But now he had a superior alternative.

“Eh? Really? Benefactor, you must be joking; I feel like there’s nothing in this world you can’t do.” Peggy inched even closer on purpose.

Every movement of hers carried a hint of calculated coyness.

Had this happened a few months countier, he would have been completely bewitched by the white-furred fox.

Reiner shook his head, “You overestimate me; I am just a commoner, but I have a fire magic book written in the Dyast language… can you read it? If you can, I’ll lend it to you, but you must keep it safe.”

“Benefactor, it seems I’ll have to trouble you to teach me personally; I cannot read…”

She said that with her mouth, yet her inner voice drifted over: (This way he will spend more time with me; strengthening our relationship is surely the right move.)

Reiner shook his head and continued, “Peggy, do you like being deceived?”

With her hands behind her back, she answered decisively, “Of course not.”

Reiner said expressionlessly, “I do not like being lied to either, so tuck away your little tricks when you talk to me; they only repel me. I prefer honest people.”

Sweat beaded on Peggy’s forehead and she hurriedly apologized, “S-sorry! I was just joking.”

(What overwhelming pressure… It feels like he has no interest in me at all.)

???

How baffling.

Reiner had merely been talking to her seriously.

Peggy answered softly, “I will break that bad habit.”

Reiner waved his hand. “You do not have to change it entirely; you may wear that mask with outsiders, but there is no need for it with me.”

With that, he took out the fire-magic book he carried, handed it to Peggy, and warned her repeatedly, “This book was a parting gift from that blonde, blue-eyed mage; it is very important to me. If I find you mistreating it while it is on loan, then…”

Peggy covered her mouth and asked cautiously, “Then what?”

“I’ll tie you up and throw you into a 100-pull gacha.”

“Rest assured, Benefactor, I will treat this book with utmost care.”

Reiner nodded. “Good.”

He continued twirling the ebony staff and casually cast a few more spells.

Just then Nora walked up, patted his shoulder, and pointed to the base of a distant tree.

At some point Breath of the Red Dragon had followed them; it peeked out from behind the tree, its huge fire-magic stone spying on Reiner.

Gulp…

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