Magic Stone

It was dusk. The massive ship of Lilith's Cottage Wizard Academy sailed over waves whipped up by the sea wind.

On deck, two or three hundred Wizard Apprentices shouted excitedly, pointing at an ocean-going vessel approaching from three hundred meters away.

"Look, they really are pirates! This is my first time seeing pirates."

"Aren't those pirates a little too timid? Why aren't they coming over already?"

The Wizard Apprentices chatted animatedly, utterly unconcerned. Even the sailors looked calm and collected.

It was no wonder they had no fear of the legendary pirates. As the ocean-going vessel that transported Wizard Apprentices for Lilith's Cottage Wizard Academy, its more than fifty sailors were all standard Knights. On top of that, the sailor chief and Balon, servant to Wizard Dila, both possessed the strength of Legendary Knights.

With such a force, ordinary pirate ships were hardly worth mentioning before this Wizard Academy vessel.

Even if some large pirate ship came to plunder them, as long as Wizard Dila appeared personally, the pirates would not dare board even if they were given ten thousand times the courage.

Green looked toward the pirate ship in the distance.

That pirate ship was somewhat smaller, only seventy or eighty meters long. Yet its sides, masts, and railings were crowded with people. At a glance, there seemed to be several hundred of them.

All the pirates were men, dressed in ragged clothes. Many were missing arms or legs, or had only one eye. Each held short blades, bows, or grappling ropes as they shouted wildly, looking so excited that they seemed to have endless energy to burn.

As for why there were no women on the pirate ship?

Because pirates firmly believed that women brought bad luck to pirate ships. They would attract powerful deep-sea beasts that would overturn the vessel, while wicked sirens would devour their flesh and leave behind nothing but bones.

Every pirate believed this without the slightest doubt.

However, Green noticed that the pirate ship did not immediately approach the Wizard vessels. The reason was simple: through his folding telescope, the pirate captain had noticed something strange about the target ship.

The ship was... filled with excited, cheering children?

Suddenly, the pirate leader, who had many years of seafaring experience, seemed to realize something. His face changed instantly, cold sweat beading across his forehead. Deep terror filled his remaining eye as he roared at the pirate at the helm, "Turn around! Quickly, turn around at once!"

The pirate leader's sudden change seemed to frighten everyone around him. Even the monkey on his shoulder jumped in alarm, squeaking as it leaped from the pirate captain onto the railing.

As for the pirate at the helm, he had long since been scared witless. Stammering, he asked, "Turn around?"

It was clear that this pirate captain held considerable authority.

His metal hook shoved the helmsman aside. Without explaining anything, the pirate leader frantically spun the wheel with his remaining arm. Carrying hundreds of dumbfounded pirates, the pirate ship fled as fast as it could.

Meanwhile.

On the Wizard Academy vessel of Lilith's Cottage, the door to the room reserved exclusively for the esteemed Wizard Dila suddenly opened, and two children, a boy and a girl, walked out curiously.

When the people on deck saw two children around their own age emerge from the Wizard's room, none of them could believe their eyes.

For a moment, the Wizard Apprentices on deck began talking among themselves.

"Who are those two? They actually get to stay outside the cabins. The moldy smell and mushroom soup these past few days have practically made me throw up!"

"Who knows? Could they be descendants of a Wizard?"

"If you don't know, don't talk nonsense. That day, the Wizard said on deck that those two were geniuses the Wizard Academy only saw once in a century. We arrived early, so we all heard it. Wizard Dila said..."

The crowd continued whispering, secretly pointing at the two children who had suddenly appeared.

Yet the two children seemed completely unconcerned. Their arrogant expressions were just like Yorkris back in Bissell City, making everyone deeply annoyed.

The girl wore a white dress. Her long golden hair gleamed brightly, and her amber-like blue eyes looked innocent and pure. With a charming smile at the corners of her lips, she resembled a little princess.

However, the disdain in her eyes as she swept her gaze over the people on deck showed that she was far from as innocent as she appeared.

As for the other boy, he merely played intently with a white rat in his hands, completely ignoring everyone on deck, as if that rat were far more important than every person present.

"Brother Yun Li, look! Those pirates actually ran away. How boring."

The girl spoke coquettishly, shaking her golden hair and letting the sea breeze naturally scatter it as it fluttered in the wind.

The boy playing with the white rat did not even look up. He said flatly, "I already told you that no pirate on the sea would dare hijack a Wizard Academy vessel. You wouldn't listen and insisted on coming out to look. The deck reeks. Let's go back."

"All right. It's just so boring..."

Ignoring the angry expressions around them, the girl and boy casually returned to the room that only Wizards were qualified to occupy.

On deck, apart from the sailors who had long grown accustomed to this, the Wizard Apprentices were in uproar. Furious roars rose one after another as their displeasure reached its peak.

After all, who were they?

In the eyes of these children on deck, they had been selected as Wizard Apprentices from among tens of thousands of people. They were elites, future great Wizards with pride of their own. Those two were merely among their number, so what gave them the right to be so arrogant and overbearing?

The deck reeked...

Then how had they survived these past days in cabins full of moldy smells?

Many believed that those two merely had some backing on the Wizard Continent, or perhaps some connection to Wizard Dila. They were simply flaunting borrowed authority.

Including Green, everyone found the two of them extremely unpleasant.

Annoyed as they were, no one dared question Wizard Dila, no matter how justified they felt. Thus, the pirate incident came to an end.

Three days after the pirate incident, Green was reciting the Odor Atlas in his cabin when he suddenly heard someone knock at the door. Shaking his head, he assumed Binhanson had come again. These days, that fellow was the only one who had nothing better to do than wander into Green's cabin berth.

Yet when Green opened the door, he discovered that it was Yorkris and Yorklianna, the brother and sister.

Though somewhat surprised, Green still welcomed them and invited them into the room.

After thinking for a moment, Green took out the fruit juice he had been reluctant to drink these past few days to entertain them. It had been stored using a noble method and could remain fresh for a full two months.

It was clear that after the fight in the cabin, Yorkris was no longer so arrogant. He had become much more steady and mature.

Though Yorklianna was still somewhat reserved and shy, she took the initiative to speak this time.

"Brother Green, thank you for helping us that time. My brother and I are both very grateful."

Her voice was soft. Even for a girl, saying something that sounded so weak made her feel terribly embarrassed.

"Uh... you don't need to take something like that to heart."

Green brushed it off.

To be honest, given the situation at the time, although he had found Yorkris extremely unpleasant before, they had boarded the ship together and belonged to the same side. No matter what, he had to make some gesture. At least, Green felt it was necessary.

And in the end, Lafi had actually played the decisive role.

"No, no, we really are grateful to you, Brother Green. We truly are."

Yorklianna hurriedly added. Then, as if she felt that was not formal enough, she tried hard to make herself look more serious. Carefully, she took two stones from inside her clothes and handed them to Green.

"My brother and I found these treasures by chance when we were young. Later, we learned that they were Magic Stones, currency used among Wizards. Over the years, my brother and I wasted some of them, and only a few remain now. So, we want to give you these two Magic Stones to express our gratitude."

Green looked at the siblings in astonishment. They actually possessed currency circulated among Wizards?

These were not gold or silver coins. Ordinary people never even got to see such things. Green had not even heard of them before.

Who would have thought these siblings had possessed such precious items all along? No wonder Yorkris had been so arrogant before. So he had something so valuable.

And Wade—the stones he had used to bribe Wizard Arowoz back then were Magic Stones.

A moment later, Yorkris and Yorklianna rose to take their leave.

Throughout this time, Yorklianna had been the one speaking with Green. Yorkris had not said a single word from beginning to end. It seemed that incident had dealt him quite a blow and left him somewhat embarrassed to face Green.

However, just as the siblings were about to leave, Yorkris suddenly patted Green on the shoulder and said solemnly, "I was wrong before."

Then he left without looking back.

Green merely nodded politely and said nothing more.

After the siblings left, Green continued sitting at the table. Only now, two thumb-sized stones lay on its surface—the two legendary Magic Stones.

Filled with curiosity, Green could not help picking up the two Magic Stones and examining them carefully. After all, he knew that even a single Magic Stone was an extremely precious fortune to a Wizard Apprentice.