At the end of the month, outside a little tavern in Terry City.
Roland tilted his head up to watch the sun sinking toward the distant mountains, presenting his profile to Selad.
Selad was coming out of the tavern's back door. At the sight, he could not help looking around before frowning.
"Relax. There's no ambush here.
If we wanted to deal with you, we wouldn't need any tricks. We could just attack you outright."
Blaise leaned against a wall nearby and spoke with a derisive chuckle.
On the other side, Trina stood on a rooftop behind Roland, hands on her hips, looking down from above.
Selad withdrew his gaze and asked heavily, "Where's what I wanted?"
"Right here." Roland held out a hand, two Phantom Magic Cards caught between his fingertips, then gave a gentle flick.
The two cards spun like blades slicing through the evening breeze, flying straight toward Selad.
The glow of spell enhancements shimmered around Roland. The temporary, substantial boost to his agility and wisdom had allowed him to master sleight of hand comparable to a Rogue's without any instruction.
This skillful little flourish left even Selad struggling to follow the movement.
Still, he was a capable warrior. He reached out and caught the cards.
Sure enough, they were Phantom Magic Cards depicting Talmud and Gian.
Roland had specifically hired an artist to redesign them, primarily to give the artwork on their faces a professional composition.
Inside the cards, however, patterns and designs formed by magically etched mana crystals mingled with densely packed, talisman-like Arcane Marks. Together, they formed square characters as inscrutable as a heavenly script, unmistakably the work of a Runic Studies mage.
Selad did not recognize these characters, but when he focused on them, he seemed to sense the vivid presence of the