The next day, Toris returned.
As soon as they met, he bowed his head and admitted his mistake. Because of his carelessness, all the candidates were almost killed.
Thinking back on this, Toris only felt anger mixed with humiliation. As a teacher of the most prestigious magic academy in Kanzax province, he was deceived by someone who appeared out of nowhere, not just once but twice.
If it weren't for Kain, his return this time wouldn't just be a simple punishment.
Mera and Myra also expressed sympathy.
Under normal circumstances, the two of them would have been apprehensive, or even angry, at Toris's lack of responsibility. It was easy to say sorry, but a life could never be taken back no matter how many apologies one said.
But what could they say after hearing Kain's explanation? Blame Toris for being stupid for being led around by the nose by the other party? Afraid that almost anyone in Toris' situation wouldn't be much different.
Don't blame yourself for being too blind, blame the enemy for seeing too clearly.
Except for Kain, of course.
He also asked Toris to confirm whether his guess was correct or not, and Kain was not wrong, Toris had indeed been fooled a second time.
It turned out that when he used [Mind Perception] on the skinny man puppet, Toris had almost locked onto the exact location where the culprit was hiding. He was so hasty because he was afraid of missing the opportunity, completely unaware that this was a trap that Zeko had set.
It was also Toris' confidence, confidence that the villain couldn't possibly know that his trump card was the rare magic skill [Mind Perception], that made him easily believe in the clue he had discovered.
But if the culprit was Zeko from the start, then it would be understandable. This was clearly a trap set against Toris's individual personality and his [Mind Perception].
"Assistant Zeko was switched on the way here... Really, I didn't think it would be this serious."
Toris sighed, he felt a profound failure.
Yet the more disappointed Toris was in himself, the more he admired Kain.
In that situation where information was extremely lacking, he was still able to deduce the truth and counterattack Zeko.
Myra sympathized, she had not understood Kain's statement about him saying that his mind was already in chaos. But now she understands somewhat.
I'm really curious what's going on in Kain's head.
Being stared at by three gazes, even Kain felt uncomfortable, he distracted himself by turning to Toris.
"Mr. Toris, when will we leave?"
Toris pondered for a moment, then gave a definite answer.
We'll leave tonight too, must reach Adia before dawn comes."
Toris's idea was simple, take advantage of the darkness to move quickly.
And of course, Toris will be watching out for them all the way.
But Kain shook his head.
"That is not necessary, sir."
"Oh, do you have a better idea?"
Toris asked, he wasn't being sarcastic but was genuinely curious.
"We can just move as usual, that guy won't come."
"Huh! Isn't that... dangerous?"
Mera reminded, she was still extremely apprehensive about that Zeko guy.
Kain offered an explanation.
"From the information we have, this guy acted completely alone, except for his puppets which have all been destroyed of course."
"This makes it so that even though Mr. Toris investigated very thoroughly, he basically couldn't find even one of Zeko's accomplices. Zeko might be able to hide it from Mr. Toris, but that was his limit. I don't believe that if those accomplices really existed, they would have the same ability to hide it as Zeko."
"Otherwise, we wouldn't be as relaxed as we are now."
Everyone saw that Kain was right.
"And one more detail if you guy remember. That is, Zeko came to kill us himself after dragging Mr.Toris away."
Speaking of this, Toris scratched his head with a bit of embarrassment, but he wasn't angry either, because he knew Kain was just making a presentation.
"Even though Zeko is confident that he can take our lives in his imperfect state, this is still too risky. Considering that the plan that guy designed is really tight, this is basically an unnecessary risk. If Zeko had accomplices, they would definitely launch a full-scale attack that day."
"So it can be said that going into battle himself was his final move. Now, he has completely exposed himself to us, both in terms of his abilities and his strength. Plus, Mr. Toris will always protect us, so there is a high chance that while we are still sitting here worrying, Zeko has already run off to another land to cause trouble."
"So, I think we can absolutely go on our way as usual, anyone have any comments?"
As soon as Kain finished, the three individuals listening also regained their senses.
What will they say? What else can they say?
It's truly incredible how Kain can piece together a seemingly unrelated set of data into a complete story. And it makes perfect sense, which is terrifying.
"Existence is reasonable."
That's what Kain said. This further instilled in people like Myra the depths of Kain's way of thinking.
There is no such thing as superfluous details, as long as you can understand what is behind it, Kain can understand it all.
So, the departure time was set for the next morning, and today we just had to rest comfortably for the night.
Toris was also treated to dinner from Wilfred.
During the meal, he also kindly mentioned the upcoming opportunity to enter the Tower of Magus.
According to Toris, even a teacher holding the title of Master like him was not clear about the specific plans of the academy. But he had heard rumors that it seemed to be related to one of the most basic rules of the academy.
Anyway, they will be notified on the first day of the upcoming school year.
As Kain had predicted, everything went very smoothly. After a few days of travel, they reached Adia, where they boarded a large ship and headed south down the river.
This was a very large merchant ship, with clear security order, so there was no uncertainty along the entire journey.
Until we got to Esten.
Mera excitedly pointed into the distance. Kain followed her direction and saw a majestic white wall stretching out, like an artificial mountain range suddenly rising from the ground. Kain had never seen such a majestic structure, and that was only the wall.
It was hard to imagine what it would be like inside. But there was a fire inside Kain that was slowly burning.
This is Esten, the heart of Kanzax!