So Cringe

"Sean, you're so awful!"

"How is that awful?"

Sean pressed his lips together. "I took the picture right in front of you, while you secretly snapped one of me behind my back. Isn't that worse?"

Isha's face flushed. "I'm a pervert. It's normal for me to see a handsome guy on the street and take a picture. Are you a pervert too?"

Sean: "..."

So she was admitting it herself?

Too bad he wasn't falling for that.

"I'm definitely not a pervert," Sean said firmly. "Because you're not beautiful."

Isha: "???"

Why was he resorting to personal attacks?

She was obviously cute! Everyone said so!

Damn it... Why hadn't Miss Flame Crow warned her before she accepted the job that this man was such a smooth talker?

After just a couple of exchanges, Isha realized she wasn't going to get the better of Sean in an argument, so she simply huffed and played dumb. "Think whatever you want. I was just passing by, hmph!"

She wasn't falling for Sean's tricks, and she certainly wasn't going to betray Miss Flame Crow.

She really didn't want her boss to find out she'd messed up at work, but Sean didn't even know who her boss was. What good would having the photo do him?

Trying to bluff her? No chance!

It wasn't clear who was trying to fool whom.

"Actually, I can guess even if you don't tell me," Sean said. "Elvily, right?"

Isha turned her little face away. "Who? Never heard of her."

Sean smiled and shook his head.

He didn't know many witches. Other than Elvily, he couldn't think of anyone who would send someone to protect him.

That was right, protect him.

Sean hadn't sensed even a trace of hostility from the petite girl, or he wouldn't have talked to her this much.

Still, protection probably wasn't the whole story.

The reason was simple: Sean didn't believe Elvily would genuinely take an interest in him just because he was handsome.

After all, Elvily had held a grudge against the man he used to be—Karl Black—to this day. Maybe she didn't hate him, but she certainly didn't like him. And his appearance hadn't changed at all between then and now. It was clear that his sister-in-law wasn't the kind of person who cared only about looks.

That was good.

Because neither was he.

When it came to girls, Sean cared more about what was on the inside.

The very proper kind of inner qualities.

He said to Isha, "You've probably been following me for a while, right? Why don't we walk around together and grab a coffee to rest?"

"No." Isha huffed. "Go walk around by yourself. I told you, I'm just a passerby, and not a beauty, so why ask me out? What a turn-off."

Sean: "..."

Why did she make it sound as if he was the one who'd been secretly taking pictures?

Which one of them was the real turn-off?

"I'm leaving. Maybe I'll see you around." Isha tossed the words over her shoulder and made her escape.

But she didn't go far.

She was only pretending. She still had to carry out her mission.

The main problem was that her target had noticed her following him, and staying by his side after that would be awkward. Otherwise, she really might have accepted Sean's invitation for coffee, to sound him out and see where he got the confidence to set a trap for the Witch Hunters.

She could do that without getting coffee, too. It would just take a little more effort.

Isha followed Sean from a distance. She had nothing else to do, so she might as well see what he got up to at the mall. Maybe she'd spot something suspicious.

To Isha's great disappointment, though, Sean really did seem to have come just to buy clothes.

He wandered around the men's clothing sections on the third and fourth floors, eventually picked out a suit, paid at the counter, and left the mall. Then he went to a restaurant on the pedestrian street with a shorter line and had a simple dinner.

After the meal, he wiped his mouth elegantly with a napkin. Leaving the restaurant, he went to a bookstore.

On the way, he came across an old homeless man begging by the roadside and tossed a few coins into the man's battered hat.

Isha thought he seemed pretty kindhearted. When Miss Flame Crow saw someone like that, she would give him a little change, too.

But Isha couldn't make sense of what happened next.

Sean didn't seem to be browsing the bookstore for fun. He actually bought several books.

She was too far away to see their covers, and she couldn't exactly ask Sean...

But that was fine. This was nothing she couldn't handle.

Once Sean had left, Isha slipped into the bookstore and asked the cashier.

If she simply asked what books Sean had bought, the cashier probably wouldn't tell her. She might even suspect Isha was up to something. But if she offered a little extra, that changed things—

"Hi. The handsome guy who was just here bought some books I like. Do you still have them?"

"We do. Just a moment, and I'll get them for you."

"Okay. Sorry to trouble you, miss."

Isha thanked her sweetly.

Clearly, she had plenty of experience with this sort of thing.

But she soon stopped smiling.

The cashier had brought her several math workbooks.

"These are the ones," the cashier said with a smile. "You have good taste. Out of all the workbooks, these are the bestsellers."

Seeing Isha's petite frame and adorable, youthful appearance, she added, "I hope you get a great score."

Isha: "???"

"Are you sure these are the ones?"

"Of course. I have the receipt right here. See?"

Isha: "..."

Wait, wasn't this guy a novelist?

Why was he buying math workbooks?

And with the signing event coming up, where he'd have to face the Witch Hunters, shouldn't he be hurrying to meditate and increase his magic power? Instead, he was wasting time doing math problems. Was he planning to stump the Witch Hunters with a few questions at the event?

Actually, Sean had thought of that.

As his magic power and tier increased, more of the Truth Formula techniques he knew were gradually unlocking.

The formula ring he'd used to deflect bullets earlier was only one of the most basic applications of this world's physical formulas and laws.

Many people thought science was science and the occult was the occult, two different things. But in reality, they were the same body of knowledge—or rather, science and the occult complemented each other.

Having reached Tier Two and gained an initial grasp of Forbidden Meditation, Sean could use Truth Formula techniques to unleash more moves that were hard to fathom. For example, bullets that curved around corners—something seen only in movies, or a gun-fu technique that required endless practice—were both things Sean could manage with a single function.

There were also ropes that required solving a problem to escape, mazes that demanded knowledge of permutations and combinations to navigate, and attack trajectories that could only be predicted by understanding function graphs... In short, if the ambush in the Black Berry Rainforest happened again, Sean could give Winster and the others a different way to die, each.

Isha knew none of this.

All she knew was that Sean was very confident, and as the person assigned to protect him, she was about to be in trouble.

The morning of September 1.

Disguised as a specially invited reporter, Isha arrived near the mall early.

There were a lot of people here... A whole lot. So many that Isha was starting to regret taking the job.

Because they weren't passersby. They were police officers.

The enormous mall was almost completely surrounded by uniformed police, and officers were also posted on patrol along the streets.

At first, Isha had tried to count how many enemies had shown up this time, but she gave up before she'd counted even half. There were simply too many.

Quill seemed to have called in every available officer in Old Sigel City. Isha had never seen the Witch Hunters put on such a huge show to deal with a Newborn witch. Was that guy... really only Tier One?