Get in first

"Ivan, what the heck! Where did you disappear?" Nea called out to me.

"Sorry, sorry. The fight on the bridge was pretty flashy so,"

"Dude, you did the same thing at that factory! Don't get so easily distracted! Who will protect you?" Nea slapped my shoulders and shook her head. "Well, I never thought I could cause this much ruckus with a simple [Grade 2 Spell: Enhance]."

"You didn't do jack! It was all the artifact and the stone! You only toppled those telephone wires." I said.

"You don't say! Why did you scream monsters from the opposite direction? We're lucky the casualties will be at a minimum!"

Hm? Did she get over all that useless self-pity so quick?

"What do you mean? Many people still died, you know?" I tilted my head at her unexpected words.

Nea made a stiff, almost solemn face. "I know. We can't save everyone. But we are doing this to save many more. Despite how good the thing we are doing is. To this world, we are just villains. We have no choice but to stay villains."

I could barely nod back with a serious face. It was almost impossible to contain my glee!

"That aside, why did we drive here in a damn oil truck?" Nea asked me.

"Hm? I don't know? It was easy to steal?" I replied. The truck had already served its purpose.

"And what about the artifact? I know we used the spell to earn a few weeks, but won't taking it somewhere else enhance lightning magic in that place?"

The artifact already enhanced all the lightning magic in all of Zakall. Taking it away would remove this effect, something that will cause a tremendous wave in the entire world. So, to make sure no one connects it to us, we enhanced the whole of Zakall again. It was simple with the rainbow stone.

With just this much, all the lightning magic will be made even stronger in Zakall for a few weeks before the enhancement completely dies out. It caused a monster outbreak as a side effect, but that helped me. All's well that ends well, right?

"You, are you really a quester? What happens when you enhance something twice?"

"It goes wild, and both the enhances cancel out. Ah!"

Suddenly, a loud growl resounded in the air. A horde of monsters crept up the street at a steady pace, like falling dominoes. Nea looked at the horde and stretched out a hand towards me.

"Stay back, I'll take care of this," said Nea.

"Don't bother." I grabbed her hand and stopped her. I checked my other pocket watch with my other hand.

"What do you—"

A large discharge of lightning cut Nea off. The streaks of electricity coursed through the horde of monsters before erupting into flames, leaving the ashes of monsters in its wake. My companion turned with a start, her eyes wide open, asking for an explanation.

I simply smiled and looked ahead. From an alley on the left, a custom-made car drifted on the street. Stopping right at our noses, a car door swung open and revealed a mediocre-looking man.

Short blonde hair and chiseled features. The guy in front of me looked about... a tenth as good as me? That's actually quite high.

"My apologies. It took a while to ensure your end of the deal was complete," said the man, "Ivan and one companion, no luggage. I will serve as your transporter."

"Been a while, Meekeh," I called out to my old acquaintance.

"It's Mike! Lord! Remember it already!" Meekeh immediately lost all the coolness he had appeared with and screamed back. What a hyper man.

"Same thing, same thing. Did you confirm it?" I brushed over the topic with a wave of my hand.

"Yes... Really, Ivan. What are you up to this time?" he sighed. "Whatever, get in first. We'll discuss it later."