By the campfire, Ronin took stock of the Mage Pedro's belongings.
Aside from four sheets of Sheepskin, a small black pouch contained 3 gold, 57 silver, and 256 copper coins. Added to the 2 gold, 18 silver, and 153 copper coins he had looted from the other two slain Knights, Ronin's monetary gains were quite substantial.
Oh, right. Ronin had also stripped the Armor from the two Knights for his own use. There were two sets of Full Body Armor. The quality wasn't top-tier, but it wasn't bad either. He estimated they were worth at least 30 gold coins each, making for a total of 60 Gold Coins.
Unfortunately, Ronin's build wasn't a good fit, so he could only award one set to Macken and keep the other as a spare.
When he had collected the Armor, Kane Knight of the Green family had been so envious he was practically drooling.
But since Ronin had saved their lives and was also a member of the Wushan Clan, all Kane could do was stare helplessly.
In fact, Ronin had considered taking the equipment from the Green family's Intermediate Knight, who was also a Warrior, but he decided against it after some thought.
He was a kind-hearted person, after all, and couldn't bring himself to do something so excessive.
Besides these obvious spoils of war, Pedro also had a fine quill pen (though it was impossible to tell if it was actually from a goose), three small crystal vials, and a thumb-sized purple crystal.
Ronin uncapped one of the vials, and a foul, fishy stench wafted out. He looked closely and saw what seemed to be tiny, glittering particles suspended in the liquid.
'These three vials must contain the Magical Beast heart's blood that Pedro used to create Magic Scrolls, right?'
Pedro had mentioned before that creating a Magic Scroll required a mixture of Magical Beast heart's blood with either Magic Core Powder or Magic Crystal Stone Powder.
A tiny vial of these materials was likely worth a small fortune.
Finally, Ronin's gaze fell upon the purple crystal, and his heart began to pound.
'This... This can't be a Magic Crystal Stone, can it?!'
A single Magic Crystal Stone was worth over a hundred Gold Coins. If this was one, Ronin would have hit the jackpot.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find any memories about Magic Crystal Stones from his predecessor's mind, so he was unable to identify it.
As for asking the Green siblings...
Ronin would never do something so foolish. 'What if they ask for a share?'
'I'll just hang onto it for now. I'm sure I'll figure out what it is eventually.'
Ronin stored all his spoils in his Space Ring. This rescue mission had yielded a bountiful harvest.
'Transcendent beings sure are wealthy. One robbery—oh, no, one rescue—and I get such a huge haul. It's truly a delight for body and soul.'
'So, sometimes a person just needs a sense of justice, just like me.'
He chuckled gleefully for a moment, then composed himself and got down to business, taking out the Sheepskin scroll for the Clear Wind Skill to study it carefully.
It clearly depicted the Magic Patterns for the spell and also marked the sequence of Magic Nodes to be drawn with Spiritual Power.
'I've got it!'
Ronin committed the Magic Patterns for the Clear Wind Skill to memory, then put the Sheepskin back into his Space Ring.
'I can think of the Magic Patterns as the Big Dipper, connected by lines. What I need to do is start from the first star of the Big Dipper, use my Spiritual Power to guide my Magic Power to form each star, and then connect them.'
'If the starting point is wrong, it won't form the shape of a dipper, and the Magic Patterns will collapse.'
'If the Spiritual Mana Line connecting the nodes is curved instead of straight like in the Clear Wind Skill's Magic Patterns, that won't work either.'
'Only by drawing it all in one go, with the sequence of the nodes and the lines all perfectly correct, can I cast the Magic.'
Having figured that out, Ronin held out his hand and made his first attempt to use his Spiritual Power to guide his Mana and inscribe the Magic Patterns of the Clear Wind Skill onto his palm.
He considered himself quite talented, but after several attempts, he still couldn't successfully coalesce his Mana into the Magic Nodes for the Magic Patterns, causing them to collapse repeatedly.
But he wasn't in a hurry. Learning Magic wasn't like learning the sword from Macken; this was a field he had never touched before, so failure was understandable and acceptable.
'The reason for this failure was that I inscribed the first node too hastily and didn't use enough Mana to sustain it.'
'This time I failed because I wasn't focused enough, causing a break in the Magic Patterns between the second and third nodes.'
'This failure... '
Ronin failed again and again, trying over and over. Finally, after more than a dozen failures, the complete Magic Patterns for the Clear Wind Skill materialized above his palm.
Immediately after, the Magic Patterns flashed once, and a gentle breeze emerged from Ronin's palm, blowing forward.
In that instant, Ronin noticed that the Mana consumption was several times greater than what he had used to inscribe the Magic Patterns.
But, he had finally succeeded.
A joyous smile spread across Ronin's face.
"Ah—"
A soft cry broke Ronin's concentration. He looked up and saw Miss Marina of the Green Clan, her hands pressed against her skirt to prevent the awkwardness of it being blown up by the wind.
"G-good evening, Lord Ronin!"
The campfire's glow made Marina's face even redder. "This wind is a little strong..."
Ronin rubbed his nose. It seemed she hadn't realized he had just used Magic.
And indeed, the Clear Wind Skill wasn't as conspicuous as the Wind Blade Skill.
"Good evening, Miss Marina. What brings you out here?"
Ronin had had a brief encounter with the Green siblings during dinner earlier.
"I can't sleep." Marina gathered her skirt and walked over, sitting down beside Ronin.
As a light breeze blew by, Ronin caught the faint scent of perfume.
He sniffed gently a couple of times but couldn't identify what materials the perfume was made from.
"After the frightening experience this afternoon, it's perfectly normal that you can't sleep."
Ronin comforted her, "But it's all over now. Tomorrow, I'll have my men escort you to Lake Town."
"Thank you so much, Lord Ronin!"
Whether from excitement or something else, Marina suddenly grabbed Ronin's arm, pressing half her body against him. Ronin felt a soft warmth.
"You know, since this afternoon, the image of you on horseback, cutting down those assassins, has been playing over and over in my mind. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it!"
Ronin was speechless.
'Are all the girls in this Otherworld so forward?'
He was sure that if he were to pull Marina into his arms for a kiss, or even take her back to his tent for the night, she wouldn't resist. She might even be the more proactive one.
But, well, Ronin had to admit he was a bit superficial about looks, and he just wasn't that into Marina.
Besides, after midnight, he had to welcome his new Light Attribute Mage. That was far more important than fooling around with a woman.
'Most importantly, I, Ronin, am destined to become a Great Lord. How can I get tied down before I've even started?'
"Ahem..."
Ronin subtly withdrew his arm and stood up. "Miss Marina, it's windy out here. You should go back and rest. I still need to practice my swordsmanship, so I can't keep you company."
With that, he walked to the side and began swinging his Longsword.
The rejected Marina wasn't angry. Instead, she watched the man practicing his sword with a gentle smile.
She had heard stories about Ronin, all of them bad rumors. It was even said that a young lady from the Haid Family had committed suicide after mistakenly sleeping with him.
But after seeing him today, it wasn't just her; even her younger brother, Malik, and Kane felt that Ronin was completely different from the rumors.
He was clearly a man of courage, strength, and handsome looks.
His face, framed by that silver hair and illuminated by the firelight, was becoming more and more captivating.
'If only I could fall asleep in Ronin's arms,' Marina thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Kane Knight was watching Macken and the others train from a short distance away.
He couldn't sense any meaning or value behind this type of training. His first thought was, 'Could this be some new dance invented by that "playboy" grandson of the Marquis?'
'A dance performance composed entirely of men... that's certainly rare. Could this be the legendary Ronin Baron's unique fetish?'
'But, I have to admit, when this group of Guards shouts their chants together, it's quite impressive and rather captivating.'