"Oh, crap!"
By this point, Hanks understood.
It looked like there was no escaping this.
He had known it. There was no way that brat An Kai would help him for no reason. He had to have something else in mind...
"Um... young master, why don't I go prepare your magic stones first? There are so many, after all. It'll take some time..."
Hanks looked at An Kai, his words stiff and awkward.
Yet An Kai's expression remained unchanged, that same warm smile on his face.
It was precisely that smile that made Hanks panic.
If An Kai had been glaring at him in anger, he wouldn't have been worried...
"Hanks, you used to be a Seven Kingdoms' Spy, didn't you?"
An Kai sat down and casually cast a Freezing Spell, sealing the entrance.
A hard layer of dark brown ice, faintly tinged with blue, appeared out of nowhere.
Not only did it seal the entrance, it also shut out the sweltering weather outside, sending the temperature in the room plummeting.
"...Yes."
His bad feeling grew stronger and stronger, but Hanks could only steel himself and keep talking.
"Hanks, do you remember what you said before?"
"What I said before?"
Hanks froze. What had he said?
"'I missed you so much'?" Hanks ventured. After racking his brain, that was the only thing he could think of that fit "what he'd said before"...
An Kai glanced at Hanks and stopped keeping him in suspense. "Do you remember saying that the city's residents were facing a severe food shortage?"
The moment An Kai said it, Hanks remembered.
The memories came flooding back.
He remembered that incident clearly. Overwhelmed by sympathy, he had wanted to solve the residents' food problem. Instead, An Kai had not only given him a harsh scolding but also