The two children ate the side dishes with a cup of warm milk to go with them. Under the warm neon light, they chuckled heartily.

  Mag was sitting at the side, throwing peanuts into his mouth occasionally. There was a pint of beer beside him as he smiled in a warm, fatherly manner.

  On the first day of the shop’s opening, he had one customer.

  At about 9 pm, Mag walked out. A gust of cold breeze caused him to shudder.

  There were only a few other taverns open for business along the street. Among them, Titan Tavern, which was diagonally across, had the best business. At that moment, laughter could still be heard from the tavern, while the situation in the other taverns was almost like that in Saipan Tavern. There were probably more staff than customers.

  There was not a single soul on the pitch-black street. Only the cold wind blew.

  With a crowd like that, Mag could not help but admire the shops that had not closed down. There was nobody out there at all.

  “Closed for the day.” Mag flipped the sign hanging on the door, and switched off the light for the signboard. A day had ended just like that.

  Although there was only one bill, they had earned 2030 copper coins. That would have surpassed many at Romo street.

  Just as Mag had thought, opening a tavern here could allow him to meet some officials of the Roth Empire and find out much useful information from them.

  “Alright, it’s getting late. Our two princesses should go up to get ready for bed,” Mag told the two children playing the cat’s cradle game as he locked the door.

  “Alright.” Amy placed the clump of tangled wool on the table, and jumped off from her chair. She had zero talent for the cat’s cradle.

  Annie also stood up. She reached out and took the messy ball of wool. Her fingers moved quickly, and the knotted string had gone back to its original state in no time at all. After that, Annie wrapped the string around her wrist.

  Mag told the two fellows a bedtime story, and left the room silently only after they had fallen asleep, not forgetting to close the door behind him.

  Just when he was getting ready to wash up and go to bed, an urgent knock came from downstairs.

  There were nine soft knocks and one hard knock. A familiar tempo.

  Mag went downstairs to open the door. He saw a flustered Noya supporting Merante, and quickly stepped aside to let them in.

  After going out to clear the bloodstains around the tavern, Mag went back and closed the door behind him. He looked at the pale Merante sitting on the chair and Noya with beads of perspiration on his forehead. Mag asked, “What’s going on?”


  “It’s all my fault. I’m stupid. Grandpa got injured while saving me. I’m so useless!” Noya said with frustration as he slapped himself.

  Merante reached out to hold Noya’s hand as he said breathlessly, “I… I’m fine…”


  “Grandpa, don’t move.” Noya quickly supported Merante. He looked at Mag, and begged, “Boss Mag, please save my grandpa.”


  “Don’t be anxious. I’ll get the medic,” Mag reassured Noya, and turned to walk upstairs.

  Merante’s injuries were serious. With Mag’s band-aid medical skills, he probably could only send him on his way.

  Thankfully, there was a superb medic upstairs who was still drunk. Mag was also unsure if he could wake her up.

  Mag opened the door and saw Irina, who was originally on the bed, lying sprawled on the floor, with a pillow in her arms.

  “Indeed, no matter how beautiful you are, once you’re drunk, you will still do something out of your control,” Mag mumbled to himself. He pulled out the newly bought fresh apple juice from the system, and helped Irina up.

  “Thirsty… Water…” Before Mag could open his mouth, Irina was already mumbling.

  “Here, water.” Mag quickly passed her the apple juice.

  Irina grabbed the apple juice, and started gulping it down.

  “Delicious. Thank you.” Irina placed the cup accurately into Mag’s hand, and went back to sleep.

  “Wait. We have an injured patient downstairs. Why don’t you treat him first before going back to sleep.” Mag quickly held her up so she would not lie back down.

  “Injured patient?” Irina turned to look at Mag. She was much more awake than before.

  “Yes. If you don’t save him, he’ll be gone.” Mag nodded. He had already decided not to let her drink Maotai again. The most he would allow her to drink was red wine and beer.

  “H-help me up,” Irina commanded.

  Mag quickly helped her up.

  “W-wait for me to get changed.” Irina turned to look at the closet.

  “No need to get changed. This is fine. I’ll just get you a jacket.” Mag took the down jacket lying at the side, and put it on Irina before helping her down the stairs.

  When they had arrived downstairs, Noya was already a cat on a hot tin roof.

  Merante, on the other hand, was much calmer. He had pasted a few talismans on himself. He was leaning on the chair without any expression of pain, and was even consoling Noya.

  When Mag and Irina arrived, Noya quickly went up to them.

  “You’re not okay?” Irina sized Noya up and down.

  “N-not me. It’s my grandpa.” Noya quickly shook his head. He could smell the alcohol on Irina, and she seemed rather drunk. Noya could not help but worry if she could work her spells properly.

  “Here.” Mag helped Irina over to Merante.

  “Let me go.” Irina pushed Mag’s hand away, and started to observe Merante carefully.

  “Boss Mag, is she up to it?” Noya whispered worriedly to Mag.

  “It should be fine.” Mag was uncertain too.

  Merante was severely wounded. There was a big hole through his abdomen. It was as though a sharp weapon had pierced through him, spun one round, and brought his flesh and blood out together with it.

  Other than that, there were a few other injuries elsewhere, some inflicted by spells and some caused by weapons.

  “He’s not dead yet after all this?” Irina exclaimed in shock after looking at Merante for a while.

  “Is that how you should react?” Merante, who still had his final breath, almost vomited blood and dropped dead at that moment.

  “Please, save my grandpa,” Noya pleaded.

  “Alright.” Irina reached her hand out, and a foldable chair appeared in her hand.

  “Huh?”


  Everyone in the tavern was stunned.

  “Oh, wrong one.” Irina threw the foldable chair aside, and pulled out her magic caster’s staff.

  “O’ Holy Light, wipe out all darkness and filth,” Irina chanted as she raised her magic caster’s staff.

  The dazzling Holy Light landed on Merante.

  “Aaah…” Merante let out a painful howl. The talismans on him started lighting up.

  “Is that the wrong spell?! How can you use the Holy Light for treatment?! You should use your healing magic!” Noya exclaimed in shock. He went up immediately, wanting to stop Irina.

  “Are you teaching me what to do”? Irina turned to look at him……