* * *

During the four days that Cadel was unconscious, Lumen’s life was a living hell.

When he awoke, he found himself in the White Kingdom’s royal chambers, receiving intense care, while Cadel and Van were in another room, receiving intensive healing.

He was the first to regain consciousness. When he awoke, he went straight to the King, and then to Garuel to tell him what had happened.

He went to the annex where Cadel was resting next. His stomach, which had been in a bad condition since he’d woken up, twisted even more when he saw Cadel’s face, sleeping as if he were dead.

Cadel, who had been ‘brought back from the dead’, as Garuel put it, hadn’t really been brought back from the dead. His skin was as pale and lifeless as a wax figure’s, and his lips were pursed tightly. His chest puffs rose and fell without even showing it.

Lumen didn’t stay by his side for long. It was hard to breathe whenever he looked at Cadel’s dead, sleeping face. He felt like Cadel was dying in his place, and he didn’t like that feeling at all.

Instead, he visited Cadel’s bedroom at the same time every day.

It was the second day that Lumen discovered Lydon, and he left him with Cadel because Lydon seemed to be trying to stay out of the public eye in his own way. He didn’t think Lydon would listen even if he told him to stop.

Three days passed, and on the fourth day.

“……You’re awake.”

Finally, Cadel regained consciousness.

Lumen had spent days and days thinking about what to say to Cadel when he woke up, and he still hadn’t come to a conclusion.

Even if he had decided what to say, he wouldn’t have been able to convey it properly. Because.

“Leader?”

“Lumen, I—”

Cadel, who was supposed to be sleeping, was standing at the side of the bed, while Lydon, who had driven the bed’s occupant away, was lying on his back, showing off his dazzling wings. It was a strange sight, but even stranger was Cadel’s reaction.

He raised his right hand with a painful face as if he had been stabbed, and then spoke in a trembling voice.

“I don’t feel it, I can’t feel the mana.”

Even Lydon, who had been biting into his cookie carelessly, stopped moving. The two men’s steady gazes fell on a single point.

Cadel collapsed, his empty hands hanging limply. Lumen reflexively ran to him. He felt a shudder as he wrapped his arms around the crouching Cadel’s shoulders.

“What do you mean, you don’t feel the mana?”

“I can’t feel anything. No matter what I do, I can’t draw out the mana.”

“All of a sudden why…….”

Suddenly, a hypothesis flashed through Lumen’s mind.

‘No way, is it because of that magic spell?’

The village and surrounding forests were burned to the ground. The intense heat would not abate for days on end, making it difficult for the knights who traveled to investigate.

A magic spell of such power. Cadel was a great magician, no doubt, but there was a reason he saved it for last.

And Lumen’s prediction was correct.

‘Even if you’re lucky enough to pull off the mimicry, the impact will be severe. If you don’t die, you’ll be on the verge of it, and you’ll be drained of all the mana in your body, and you won’t know if your mana will return or if it’ll be gone forever.’

Cadel remembered Mamil’s warning and despaired at the horror of the situation.

‘The mana didn’t come back for four days after I rested. Is it gone forever? Am I really losing my powers like this?’

It was unacceptable. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t expect this at all, but he thought it would be solved somehow if he was still alive.

That was because he was ‘Cadel Lytos’.

‘This can’t be happening, this is ridiculous.’

Cadel’s head snapped up and he opened the ‘My Information’ window.

<Cadel Lytos>

Titles : [7-star Magician], [Commander of the Scarlet Scales Mercenary], [Mercenary of the Smog Plains], [The One Who Blocked the Dark Shadow], [Demon Slayer]

Magic Attributes : Fire (10), Wind (20), Lightning (10)

Equipment in possession : [Check Inventory]

Knights in possession : Van Herdos, Lydon

Knight Order Cost : 9/10

Capital in possession : 125 Gold 20 Silver

Quests in progress : —

Reputation : 57/100

After scanning the profile, Cadel’s eyes moved to the top again. What caught his eye was the title.

‘I haven’t lost my 7-star magician title yet.’

If his mana completely disappeared, wouldn’t the title of [7-star Magician] also disappear?

‘……Yeah. It’s too soon to tell.’

Even if he really did lose his mana and become a normal person, his goal was still to see the end of the story.

If he couldn’t live as a magician, he had to start training his body now. He couldn’t fall apart here.

“There must be a way.”

As Cadel gathered his thoughts, determined. Lumen, barely out of shock, tightened the hand on his shoulder.

The way he looked at Cadel was firm.

“I’ll look around for it. How to regain the mana.”

Cadel’s gaze shifted from the system window he’d been staring at, and the breath he’d been holding escaped as his tense muscles relaxed.

‘……In the past, I would have worried about whether my incompetence would cause my subordinates to leave.’

It was strange. For some reason, as far as Van and Lumen were concerned. Even if he loset all his power and returned to the starting point, they seemed to still be by his side.

‘I don’t know about Lydon though.’

He would think that a normal human being was boring and run away. As soon as his mind wandered that far, he became anxious again.

Lydon took another bite of the cookie he’d set down while pondering something, his jaw working, his face contorted into an odd expression. He swallowed his leisurely chew and opened his mouth to say something, but just then.

“Hmm? The door is open?”

Another guest came to visit.