Lamdrion, the east gate street.
There was a flurry of chaotic footsteps. With Balon in the lead, the knights and adventurers of the secret prisoner transport quest all rushed in a hurry.
Vivian, Diere, Lumia, and Melika were also with them. Only, their brows were bunched together in an expression that showed non-understanding and surprise.
It wasn't just Vivian and group either. Even Balon, Leon, Alrith, Eurdrice, Markray, and the rest also had that kind of expression on them. That was why they were hurrying so much toward the direction of the town gate.
When they reached the gate, the place was already completely crowded with people. The gate was surrounded by the townsfolk.
The townsfolk seemed to want to exit the town. They all had a curious expression as if they were drawn by something. It was quite rowdy.
The guards who were guarding the gate were blocking them, not allowing them to leave the town.
"Sir Ballon!"
"Sir Ballon!"
When they saw Balon leading a large group over, the guards finally called out as if breathing a sigh of relief.
However, Balon didn't even respond to them. He just led everyone with him out the gates and exited Lamdrion.
However, the moment everyone left the town and into the outskirts, an abnormal phenomenon occurred.
"Boom!"
Following the sound of an earth-shattering, an enormous explosion blasted out in front of them. The shockwave from the blast spread out and washed over the surrounding area.
Balon and group who rushed out of the town didn't even have the chance to react before they were buffeted by the shockwave.
"Kya!"
"Ah!"
"Lord Leon!"
Given that they were unprepared for it, Lumia, Melika, and Eudrice all let out a surprised shout at the wind blasting over them.
The rest of the people were in similar states. They all reacted as if they were met with a sudden hurricane and screamed out in surprise. Some were even blown this way and that, nearly falling over.
No, Leon and Markray both actually did fall over. One fell on his face, the other screamed out in pain. If anyone who didn't know any better saw them, they'd have though that the two of them were met with some kind of inhumane treatment.
"Ugh…!"
Only Balon, as a level 68 knight, drew the sword on his waist as if by reflect and held it in front of himself in a guard position. Vivian also immediately pulled out her shield and set it in front of Lumia and Melika to block them against the rushing wind. Diere was even more decisive. She swung the dagger in her hand and literally cut apart the wind rushing at her, dispersing it into a mild breeze.
"Careful!"
Besides the three of them, the only one who could actually react to the sudden shockwave buffeting them was Alrith. He directly grabbed onto the shoulders of the party members next to him and forcibly stabilized them in waited out the storm.
In this situation, after an unknown amount to time, the wind finally died down.
The group finally managed to see the scene before them clearly. Then, every single one of them stood completely stunned.
In the field in front of them, a terrific scene was imprinted into everyone's eyes.
There, what was originally a wide open field had at some point transformed into a scorched plain. Not only was it completely burned to charcoal, there were also a number of huge crater littered about it. It was unbelievable in the extreme.
And before that unbelievable sight stood a young man with a long bundle on his back with something in his hand.
"Eh? Why are all of you guys here?"
As if he was surprised, the young man turned around as if he heard something behind him and looked on over. He spoke something like he found something unexpected, but for some reason, there was a hint of laughter in his eyes.
"Shien…"
Vivian unconsciously muttered the man's name.
It was indeed Shien who suddenly went missing a while ago.
"J-Just what is this?"
"Gods…"
"How did it turn into something like this?"
"How terrifying."
The knights and adventurers all begun muttering among themselves in terror.
Putting aside the normal knights and adventurers, even Leon, Alrith, Markray, Eudrice, and group had their hearts pounding furiously at the sight before them.
Diere also couldn't hold herself back from murmuring quietly to herself.
"What is that man planing now?"
Obviously, Diere was already feeling the onset of a headache.
Given that even Diere reacted like that, there was no need to even mention Lumia and Melika, who looked at each other in terror.
Balon too got quite a scare.
It wasn't that he was a coward. Rather, the scene before him truly was rather terrifying. Balon almost thought that it was the Old Demon Faction who managed launch an attack ahead of schedule.
However, Shien just acted completely normal. Heck, he even seemed quite happy. Thus, Balon was forced to speak up.
"What were you doing here?"
Balon's statement had the hint of an interrogating tone to it.
It must be said, the effect was quite majestic, with also a great deal of pressure included.
And yet, not only did Shien not feel afraid at that, he instead just scratched his head, seemingly embarrassed.
"Sorry, sorry. I must have scared you guys. I was just testing the magic items I just got is all. If I ended up scaring everyone, then I really am sorry about that."
Shien said something like that.
"Testing a new magic item?"
Shein's words instantly had everyone's attention.
Especially Vivian and Diere. Their gaze at Shien was filled with surprise.
Shien didn't mind them at all, as if he really was embarrassed. He just continued to let out an embarrassed chuckle while scratching his head.
"You guys should have known as well right? Last time, it was all thanks to a powerful magic item that I managed to take down that Old Demon Faction guy with a sneak attack. That was why, afterwards, I ended up getting quite an interest in magic items."
Shien's words made a lot of people focus their gaze onto him.
Especially Balon. Only then did he finally seemed to have truly noticed Shien's existence and spoke out as if suddenly realizing something, "So you were the new adventurer who subjugated Jillian and that guildmaster Leili had her attention on?"
"Yep, that's right, that's right." Shien answered with a grin, "I'm really sorry about disturbing everyone."
Despite saying so, Shien wasn't showing a hint apology in his expressions.
However, no one was really paying attention to that particular point anymore.
That was because everyone's attention was drawn by the Shien had previously made.
"You were saying that you were testing a new magic item here, right?" Balon gave a glance at the terrifying sight of the scorched plain, and, with a visible shift in his eyes, looked toward Shien and spoke deeply, "Could it be, that everything here was the result of your magic item testing?"
"Yeah, that's basically right." Shien admitted it without reservation and continued on, "The magic item I used on Jillian was really way too powerful. It seriously made an impression on me. It seriously grasped my attention, so I ended up asking someone to make more for me. The results were a bit lacking, but it's still just barely acceptable."
Hearing that, everyone only had one though in their minds.
That was, if this was a bit lacking, then just what kind of magic item would count as satisfactory?
However, slowly, they also realized what Shien's words really mean, and a number of people's eyes flashed in response.
Such as Leon.
Such as Markray.
And also Balon as well.
Of them, Markray was the least patient one, and he directly started loudly questioning.
"Oy, do you mean that you have that powerful magic item again?
To that question, Shien unhesitatingly gave an answer.
"Of course." Shien stuck out his chest, raised his head, and proudly replied, "And I got quite a few too you know?"
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