Ifrit's Secret

"Heh heh, are you finally afraid?"

"But—it's already too late!"

Wade suddenly opened his eyes!

"There's only an instant left. Cherish this instant while you're still alive!"

"Magnetic Field—"

"Observation!"

He turned his head to look!

He saw it!

That fraud of a wizard!

And

Behind him, the faintly visible

"."

Half a body.

Beyond that half of a body, the trees, flowers, grass, barrier, even that mountain—

Had vanished.

A fan-shaped crater a thousand meters in radius and three meters deep had replaced everything that had been there before.

From extreme motion to utter stillness, from existence to nonexistence.

The change took only an instant.

It was far too abrupt.

As abrupt as a nearly finished landscape painting suddenly having most of it sliced away with a single cut.

"Wha—" That was Wade's final sound.

Boom. That was the sound of everything being destroyed.

Only then did the two sounds reach Ifrit's ears.

Then a hurricane swept back toward him.

The Red Thread immediately wove itself into a red ball and rooted deeply into the ground, firmly protecting Ifrit.

More than ten seconds passed.

The disturbance outside finally subsided.

The ball of Red Thread unraveled, slowly dispersing into natural magic.

Leaning on his staff with both hands, Ifrit watched the half of Wade's body fall backward, his expression helpless.

"See? You wouldn't listen to good advice, and now you've suffered for it."

He stood there for a while.

Then Ifrit turned toward the empty air beside him and said gently, as if talking to himself, "All right, stop crying. The person who saw you is dead now."

It was as though someone were speaking with him.

"Yes, yes, yes, it was my fault. I failed to protect you."

"."

"After we get back, I'll treat you to rice supplied exclusively to the royal family."

"."

"Heh heh heh." Ifrit laughed. "You perked right up the moment you heard there'd be food. That's more like it. You're so cute when you smile, so don't take something this minor to heart."

"."

Apparently hearing some kind of question, Ifrit's tone turned serious. It was as though he were facing his wife's interrogation, earnestly repeating the promise he had made to her long ago.

"Don't worry. How could I ever dislike you?"

"I still remember what I said back then—"

"I'll never force you to do anything you don't like. You don't have to take part in battles you don't want to fight."

"Today was just an accident. That idiot was courting death and insisted on seeing through my Deep Realm Magic state."

"In the future, you can still do whatever you want—"

"Housework, cooking, pulling weeds, watering flowers, basking in the sun, eating rice."

"You, me, neither of us ever needs to change."

"."

Was that supposed to be a heartfelt confession?

In any case, those words worked, and the matter was put to rest.

"."

Ifrit immediately relaxed and smiled again.

"Hahaha, a girlfriend is still a long way off. Besides, she might not be willing to wash dishes and cook every day. You won't be losing your job."

"."

His expression suddenly changed again, and he snapped, "Shut up! That violent scallion-headed she-ape is absolutely impossible!"

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"Pretty?"

"."

"What use is being pretty?!"

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"Violent, stupid, and completely lacking in elegance! I'm a kingdom noble—a viscount! A woman like that, don't even think—"

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"That's just magic countering magic! If not for that damned magical disadvantage, killing her would be as easy as crushing an ant!"

"."

"Huh? No one but her could accept my terrible personality? What kind of joke is that?!"

"Don't you know my personality? Isn't it exceptionally good!"

"And I'm incredibly popular!"

"If I wanted women, it'd be easy."

"."

"I'm not afraid of her!"

"And this has absolutely nothing to do with her!"

Usually calm and composed, Ifrit gradually became more and more irritable.

Just then.

Slap.

Something pink suddenly landed on Ifrit's face. It was warm and carried a faint fragrance.

"What is this?"

Ifrit grabbed the thing that had landed on his face.

A

Pink,

Recently worn

Women's sock.

"Look at how disgusting she is, throwing a sock in someone's face!"

Ifrit said with disgust. He was about to throw it away when he noticed writing on it.

Pinching both ends of the sock between his index fingers and thumbs with extreme disgust, he looked at what was written on it.

How badly did that crispy goose get beaten up? Hahaha, this is so satisfying! Hurry up and take a picture and send it over so I can have a laugh!

"I wasn't beaten up!"

Ifrit furiously threw the sock far away.

"."

"She isn't concerned about me, she's mocking me! You should be on my side!" Ifrit said angrily to the empty space on his left.

"."

"I'm not angry. Why would I get angry over someone like her!"

"."

Ifrit suddenly put on a smile. Though it was extremely stiff, he still spoke in his usual manner. "Oh my? Am I angry? No, not at all."

That person seemed to stop talking to him.

Squeak, squeak.

A large gray rat crawled out of a hole in the ground, ran over to the sock, and stretched out its head to sniff it.

Ifrit moved with incredible speed and raised his hand to fire a shot!

Boom!

A huge hole was blasted into that patch of ground, and everything vanished amid his violent magic.

"Of all socks to sniff, it had to be that she-ape's. No taste at all. It deserved to die!"

Ifrit lowered his gun.

"Inhale—exhale—"

He took several deep breaths to steady himself, then tidied his clothes and posture.

Forget the unpleasant things.

Be himself again!

He returned to his usual state just in time—

"Ifrit!" Someone called out.

Erza, Lucy, Happy, and Gray had arrived.

"Erza, why are you all here?" Ifrit asked in confusion.

"!!!!"

His companions did not answer. They had seen the fan-shaped area where everything had been erased.

Erza was too shocked to speak.

"H-Hey, what kind of joke is this?!" Gray's voice was trembling.

"What on earth happened here..." Lucy's legs went weak, and she nearly dropped onto the ground.

Happy fell straight out of the air. Fortunately, he grabbed onto Erza's armor before he hit the ground.

After the three humans and one cat had spent a long while recovering.

Erza swallowed dryly before asking, "There was such a huge disturbance here, and we also sensed you releasing your magic at full power, so we rushed over. Who were you fighting? How could it have been this outrageous?"

"That crater... did you make it?" Gray swallowed.

"Hahaha, no way. To do something like this, you'd probably have to be one of the legendary gods." Lucy forced a laugh.

"A god?" Happy said in shock. "Is Ifrit actually a god?!"