The stunned Mayor Mareb

When the townspeople arrived at the Jade Mine with torches to find out what had happened, they were stunned by the sight before them.

A small burning tree provided bright light, revealing that the mine entrance had been blocked by shattered rocks. Flames still burned in places around the mine.

Not far away, the farmer named Rhode stared at the mine with a bitter smile.

Since he needed to rush over and assess the situation, Rhode had not brought Lilia along, telling her to go back to her room and sleep first.

Well, luckily, the Jade Mine generally didn't operate at night, so no one would have been here. Otherwise, I'd be in serious trouble.

The townspeople had come storming over to demand an explanation, but they hesitated when they saw Rhode.

After all, word that Rhode had saved Little Fabron from a giant spider had already spread through town.

Saving a child's life often inspired more gratitude than saving an adult's.

Children were the future of a family, and the future of the town.

No matter where one lived, the next generation was always the most important.

And Rhode, who had saved a child, was now undoubtedly Southshore's hero.

No matter how outstanding a farmer he was or how much grain he produced for the town, the prestige he gained from that could never compare to saving a child's life.

Yet now he had destroyed one of the town's most important industries-the Jade Mine!

The copper ore and tin ore produced here, along with gemstones such as aquamarine and malachite that were occasionally unearthed, brought Southshore considerable income.

This left the townspeople torn.

What should they do?

Just then, several burly men stepped out of the crowd and marched toward Rhode with menacing expressions.

Rhode recognized them. They were miners from the Jade Mine, led by their foreman, Bondes.

With the Jade Mine blocked, they were the ones most affected.

Their jobs were simply gone!

And Rhode could see something else in their eyes-

Jealousy?

Yes, jealousy.

No matter how heroic or outstanding someone was, admirers inevitably came with detractors.

Often, there was only one reason for such feelings: jealousy.

After all, they had originally all been ordinary farmers and miners, standing on equal footing. But suddenly, Rhode, a fellow farmer, was being hailed as a hero. Some were bound to resent it.

They probably wanted to seize this opportunity to prove that this supposed hero was really just a loser.

Rhode also saw Little Fabron's parents try to hold the miners back, only to be shoved aside.

They were coming over.

But a middle-aged man standing at the front of the crowd stretched out his arm and stopped them.

It was the mayor.

Mayor Henny Mareb.

"Let me talk to him," Mayor Marebu said. "Also, these flames probably aren't ordinary fire, but magical fire. If you touch them, you could very well be burned to ash."

Mayor Marebu enjoyed enormous prestige in Southshore, and the townspeople rarely questioned his words.

At that, the townspeople were immediately too frightened to move.

Magic!

Ordinary people like them had an instinctive fear of things such as magic and ghosts. If they could avoid coming into contact with them, so much the better.

And did the mayor mean that Rhode had created these magical flames?

Was Rhode actually a mage?

That made even the miners nervous, stopping them in their tracks.

Showing jealousy or hostility depended on being able to win a fight.

If Rhode was a mage, they would have to think twice.

Mayor Marebu waved his hand and said, "Go home and get some rest. Leave this to me. If I need any help, I'll come find you."

The townspeople immediately began heading back.

Partly out of fear of magic, and partly out of trust in their mayor.

The miners hesitated briefly, then had no choice but to follow the others back toward town.

Soon, the crowd had dispersed, leaving only Mayor Marebu.

He took a few steps toward Rhode, then stopped when he reached a patch of scattered flames.

After carefully walking around the flames, Mayor Marebu reached Rhode's side.

"Did you cast this?" Mayor Marebu asked. "Was it Fireball?"

Rhode nodded.

"You seem quite familiar with magic, Mayor," Rhode said, a little curious.

They had chatted before, but never in much depth, mainly because Rhode's "nonsense" tended to make the mayor think he was crazy.

"Heh, I was once a magic apprentice myself, studying under Mr. Audric," Mayor Marebu said with a smile. "But I had no talent, so I eventually gave up and stayed in town. Later, I became mayor."

Oh, so he had abandoned magic for politics.

Mayor Marebu turned to look at the blocked Jade Mine again, then pointed at the flames and asked Rhode, "That Fireball was extremely powerful. Have you been practicing on your farm for a long time?"

Rhode nodded.

"When you came to Southshore a few years ago, I could tell you were different from the other farmers," the mayor said. "I never imagined you really had a talent for magic. So you've been studying magic on your farm all these years?"

By "different," you mean I seemed a little crazy, right?! Always going on about how Lordaeron was about to be destroyed and all that...

"No," Rhode said. "I've only been studying for a couple of weeks."

"What?" Mayor Marebu involuntarily stepped forward, his eyes widening as his thoughts churned like a raging sea.

He could tell that Rhode was intelligent and a natural spellcaster, but he had never expected him to learn at a speed so far beyond anything he had imagined.

Even someone who took several years to cast a Fireball this powerful would have been considered exceptionally gifted.

Yet Rhode claimed he had only spent a couple of weeks???

That was simply beyond Mayor Marebu's understanding.

"Genius" was no longer enough to describe him. His understanding of spells had already reached an astonishing level, yet he was clearly still just a young man.

"How did you learn? Why was it so fast?" Mayor Marebu asked, suppressing his astonishment.

"Uh... I just picked up a bit here and there, and then I could do it." Rhode figured that even if he explained how he used programming to construct spell models, the mayor probably would not understand.

Besides, he could not exactly tell him about Lilia.

A little High Elf who could use magic, and her elementary school textbooks?

If some villain found out, who knew what might happen?

I had to keep Lilia safe.

No matter what.

"So it really is talent. Extraordinary talent," Mayor Marebu murmured, feeling a little admiration, a little nostalgia, and a little jealousy.

But those feelings lasted only an instant before he let them all go, finding peace instead.

To witness a legendary genius like this with my own eyes... my life hadn't been wasted.

"They say that the most powerful human mage, Grand Archmage Antonidas, took only a few days to master Fireball when he first began studying magic," Mayor Marebu said. "Looking at it that way, you're only a little behind him."

"Uh, I think I'm still a long way off." Rhode pointed at the wrecked mine. "I haven't fully mastered it yet."

Comparing me to the incredible Archmage Antonidas... the mayor really thought highly of me.

"Heh, right. I almost forgot." Mayor Marebu glanced at the Jade Mine as well. "Let's deal with the mine first."