Atterson held the scroll with shaking hands, more arrows set ablazed— with fire that doesn't seem to get put out! — lodged themselves in the igloo's walls, the people are panicking and Atterson knew that she can help with this.

  But does she want to?

  "Are you going to call her?" Like before, Bylor was incredibly calm, it's like he wasn't worried about her decision. "You know you have no choice, right?"

  Atterson grit her teeth, who was this man to tell her this? Does he think he can just order her around just because he's the one who taught Rontress magic?! She can just keep this scroll and never use it! If he wants to play a stupid game, then she's playing it too!

  "I'm not really stalling." The old man tapped the amulet hanging from his neck, his tone was calm as he explained the situation even further. "I can just teleport out of here, I have enough mana to do it, you know?"

  "Then you can also just—"

  "Fighting hundreds of adventurers is out of the question, a single teleport spell where I run away is the best option for me here, isn't it? I don't have to waste mana, and I keep myself safe."

  "You— why?! You have the chance to help these people!—"

  "And so do you, but I'm not the one hesitating to use the scroll in her possession now am I?" Bylor barked out a laugh, it's the first time Atterson has seen him with an emotion beyond perpetual calm. "Sure, I'm also holding back, but I have my reasons, and at least those are not... What? Jealousy?"

  "Jealous?" It was like cold water was poured down Atterson's head once she heard the accusation. "You think I'm jealous of my own child?"

  "Yeah, you are." Bylor met her gaze unflinchingly, like he somehow believed what he was saying, that she was jealous of Rontress somehow. "You act all proud and happy for her but the truth is, you actually don't like the achievements that Rontress has gotten, don't you?"

  "Do I look like I hate her?!" Atterson screamed, the sounds of fighting coming from outside went dull and the only thing in her mind was the stupid words this old man spat at her. "I'm proud of my daughter! I can't be any more proud of her! Which is why I know that I can't chain her down! Call for help?!"

  Hysterical laughter bubbled out of her mouth, it sounded defeated even in her ears. "If I do that she's just gonna keep helping us! She won't have time to be herself! Don't you get it?! Rontress won't be able to go to the capital if she's stuck with us! What then?! Huh?!"

  "I think you're underestimating your daughter." Bylor looked at her coldly, there's no warmth in his voice either. "Rontress won't chain herself down to keep helping you, that's why she left you that store, so that you don't have to keep relying on her."

  "No, you don't get it—"

  "I do. Rontress just didn't expect the town to attack any of you, she must have thought that no one would be stupid enough to harass her family when she's gone, after all, isn't that just asking for trouble?" Bylor shook his head and what he said next made it feel like he's gone through something similar himself.

  "She doesn't know that people, when envious enough, would do anything to satisfy their own ego, they don't care about the consequences of their actions right as long as they satiate themselves momentarily." The old man glared at her. "So let me ask you this, do you really want to keep your daughter from helping you out of fear that she won't realize her true potential if she does?"

  "Yes!" Atterson screamed, she wasn't convinced by Bylor's explanation.

  "You really..." The old man pressed the felt of his palm against his face. "What do you think happens if you die? Do you think Rontress won't become self-destructive or even worse than that? Think about it!"

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  She flinched at the sudden rise of his voice, and again, that made her calm down for long enough to think about what she's doing.

  What happens if they die? She asked herself this, once, twice, thrice, and every single time the only answer that came to her was: Rontress would become vengeful and spiteful of the world, she doesn't know just how her daughter would act, but Atterson feared it wouldn't be a good thing, both for Rontress' own being and... The world.

  She does not know why, but she felt as though if Rontress ever becomes a villain, it would be the end of the world as they know it. Her gut is now screaming at her to rip open the scroll, and she was about to, but then the walls suddenly broke apart and in came a group of adventurers.

  One of them was about to come to her when her husband suddenly came forward and tackled the man.

  Atterson didn't hesitate then, she tore the scroll in half and tossed it away just as the magic inside shot outwards, its destination being the heart of the forest.

  "That... Will take a while, you should have done that a long time ago, but it's fine, I'll help you out, hold strong until your daughter gets here and takes all these animals down." Bylor flicked his finger and a bolt of lightning shot out, striking the man about to stab Laself.

  With a mage finally on their side, the morale of all their fighters got bolstered and simultaneously, their enemies started to slow down.

  Bylor cast another spell, this one was aimed at the pair of mages casting spells from the back, once the two of them got hit by an actual lightning strike, the spell began to weave around the backline of the enemy.

  And just like that, a quarter of the attacking adventurers are gone.

  Atterson only stared, wondering why the old man hadn't done this sooner, their eyes met, "you also could have called for Rontress sooner, why didn't you?"

  Was he reading her mind?

  "No, but I can guess what you're thinking." Bylor shot out his third spell. "And that will be the last spell I'll cast for this fight, the enemy should be more wary now, the mages on their side, assuming they're educated, would spread the word that I can cast mid tier spells."

  "And that will stall them, somehow?" Atterson had her doubts but she didn't know how to fight so she decided to believe the mage.

  "It will if they see the corpses of their fellow adventurers."

  Ah, that made more sense.

  "Well, I'll count on you then." Atterson was about to add something more, like asking him to cast another spell but the words died in her throat when her husband was violently thrown inside the igloo.

  She froze when she saw Thomala rolling across the ground, a giant wound on his stomach and a bleeding gash on his remaining arm.

  When he stopped rolling, Atterson ran to his side and checked his injuries wordlessly, she touched the pulse of his neck, the tears she's been holding back are now flowing freely. "You... What are you doing?!"

  "F-fighting back." Her husband coughed, "when I saw Nadoson I..."

  She slapped him, she didn't want to hear anything more coming out of his mouth. "You decided to fight him yourself?! While injured?!"

  "He wanted to go to Laself, then Howaph, I bought enough time for Jagal to come in and fight him."

  "Jagal..." Atterson murmured the name, where has she heard that before? "Ah, the executioner? He finally decided to help?!"

  "Yes, he's out there fighting right now." Thomala coughed a mouthful of blood and looked somewhere outside, Atterson followed his eyes and saw two men fighting.

  One was carrying a giant war axe and the other a simple spear, both of them were fighting expertly, one wields absolute strength that, while slow, is guaranteed to kill should an attack land, while the other carries himself with speed and dexterity, striking multiple times yet failing to penetrate his opponent's skin.

  Jagal dodged left and stepped forward, his speed betraying his burly frame, he can move faster than most expected and from an outside point of view, it I'd obvious that he is holding back.

  "He's looking for an opportunity." Thomala tried to stand up but Atterson stopped him. "Once he gets that, he'd be able to kill Nadoson in a single strike."

  Nadoson was moving quickly, each thrust of his spear was blindingly fast, his movements were expertly choreographed, and although his attacks couldn't hurt his opponent, they were still wearing Jagal down. It won't be long before the executioner runs out of steam and becomes vulnerable.

  But before that happened, Jagal moved quickly, he took one giant step forward and struck Nadoson, his war axe violently went down, it was about to cleave the town guard in half when he suddenly moved to the side.

  An arm falls but there's no kill, and in response, Nadoson's spear glowed and he struck Jagal on the side, the weapon pierced through flesh and muscle but was stopped by bone, Nadoson clicked his tongue.

  "I knew it," the man pulled his spear back, it was glowing again, "keep yourself bent over like that, I'm gonna hit you again." He laughed. "Not that you can move!"

  The spear came forward but it stopped halfway through.

  It all happened so suddenly: first was a violent burst of wind so strong that it tore the entire igloo apart and brought down all the fighters, adventurers included, and the next was a shower of snow, at first, then dirt.

  When everything calmed down, there is now a massive ravine on the ground behind Nadoson, and the man himself has stopped moving, his laughter has stopped and then, slowly, his head slid off his neck and fell to the ground.