I Became the Guardian of Big Shots in the Game

Ethan, who had raised mages of all attributes and job classes.
Of course, had also raised mages who mainly deal with magic circles.
So he had basic knowledge.
That’s why he just tweaked Yuria’s magic circle a bit.
Optimizing it as much as possible.
But.
She was clearly overjoyed, bouncing up and down.
‘Hmm, is that all?’
Actually, what he did wasn’t even a big piece of advice.
In Ethan’s memory, in the community, veteran players who only raised mages routinely showcased feats like one-shotting bosses with 12-layered magic circles.
But that’s because those guys did nothing but eat and play games.
Someone of Yuria’s level should be able to easily teach basic magic.
‘Can’t we just have Yuria teach magic lessons too instead of finding a separate mage?’
So he asked.
If she wouldn’t consider teaching magic as well.
Levi had found the hidden gold coins in the mansion too.
Paying a generous additional compensation is no big deal for the current Ethan.
But.
“…I’m sorry.”
“I can’t teach magic. And I shouldn’t either.”
Ethan briefly.
Wondered if magic educators needed qualifications in this world.
‘There was nothing like that in the settings.’
“What do you mean by that…”
“It’s exactly as I said. I’m not fit to teach magic. Because…”
Saying that, she took her hand off the magic circle and.
Stretched her palm towards Ethan.
-Tik tik!
A few ice particles the size of millet grains poured out from her palm.
“Because I can’t properly use even simple ice magic without relying on magic circles. They say I have a constitution that can only use a tiny fraction of my mana.”
Yuria smiled bitterly.
“Is it even proper for someone like me to teach magic? Moreover, in the world of mages, the existence of a master is very important. Who you learned from follows you like shackles for life.”
She took Ethan’s hand with both of hers.
And slowly lowered it.
“I appreciate the offer, but there’s nothing good to gain from learning from me. So I’d like you to look for another teacher.”
“…I understand. But if you ever change your mind-”
“Yes, if the problem I’m facing is solved. Then I’ll gladly teach magic.”
Ethan left the study wordlessly.
In the deep night.
On the roof of the mansion.
There was someone eavesdropping on the conversation.
‘What a stupid woman.’
Levi sighed.
If she wanted salvation, she should have clung to the person in front of her.
Why doesn’t she recognize his greatness?
‘That’s why she’s called stupid, I suppose?’
And helping stupid people.
Is always the job of the wise.
‘Should I help her just this once?’
*
A secluded warehouse in the Free Market.
In a warehouse rented from a closed-down merchant guild.
Lights were brightly lit in the middle of the night.
In a corner of the empty warehouse.
Five large men gathered.
Playing a card game.
“Any news?”
“The big boss is coming in a few days. So we’re to do reconnaissance first.”
“What was the target’s name again? E- something.”
“Ethan. He looked like just some kid.”
“The underground boss?”
The man snorted his drink and cackled.
“That Roan guy from before at least looked… what should I say. Evil. It suited him somewhat.”
“He did look like a very vicious loan shark.”
“Not just look like, he was a loan shark. A so-called noble bastard who forcibly lent money to poor people, and forcibly collected interest. A petty bastard.”
“A guy of that level can’t even get near Etre, right? Hahaha!”
The men from the capital’s underworld organization laughed or nodded in agreement.
There was a huge gap in level between Serdin’s underground and Etre’s underworld.
“I heard the new guy didn’t even show respect to the Five Pillars?”
“Yeah, that’s why we came in person. Oh! I won this round?”
“Ah, boss!”
“Please give this poor brother a break!”
“Alright, alright. You beggars. Here!”
He tossed one gold coin each.
Then flipped over the cards and shuffled again.
“Ah, boss. I have a good idea.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I heard he’s raising some kids.”
“Kids? Is the kid a player in bed?”
The room erupted in laughter again, then settled down.
“I heard from the guild that he’s looking for teachers to teach the kids, including a swordsmanship instructor.”
“Swordsmanship?”
“Yes, so how about getting a job as an instructor and observing from the inside?”
Who were they?
“Swordsmanship is good! Thanks to the boss’s guidance, aren’t we all at least apprentice knight level?”
“That’s right!”
They were once promising knights of Etrion.
After losing his right arm on the battlefield, he joined the underworld.
They are the loyal subordinates of ‘One-armed Knight Lauren’.
“Good idea. If we go in advance and grasp the internal situation, the big boss will be pleased when he arrives.”
“I’ll run to the guild first thing tomorrow morning!”
“Good, but before that.”
The man finished speaking and.
Spread out the cards in his hand.
“I’m taking this round too.”
“Ah, boss!”
They played and drank all night.
And that scene.
Was being watched by someone melted into the darkness.
*
The next day.
Levi, who came out to the garden, stood next to a shadowy wall and.
Received a report from a Special Forces member.
“I see. Leave them be for now, and if they approach with impure intentions, deal with them and report back.”
“Yes.”
“Um, Miss Levi?”
“Yes, Teacher Yuria.”
At Levi’s gesture, the Special Forces member melted into the shadows.
“We could have met in the room if you had questions.”
“I have something to tell you here. Oh, Ethan-nim has come too.”
“What’s going on?”
Why did she call the employer too?
Yuria hadn’t done anything wrong but felt a bit uneasy.
“First, I apologize. I took the liberty of requesting the guild to check your background information.”
“Was that necessary?”
“Yes, Ethan-nim. I heard there are sometimes people who forge their education or career. Fortunately, there were no issues. I apologize again, teacher.”
“It’s alright.”
Levi handed Ethan a half-turned stack of documents.
“Yuria Riverside, second-place graduate of Kailos Academy, the continent’s top educational institution. You lost the valedictorian title because you recorded the lowest score in magic practical.”
That was a particularly painful past for Yuria.
Her right hand behind her back trembled without her realizing.
“This part was strange. Until 4th year, you got excellent grades in practical evaluations, but suddenly from 5th year, it seems you became unable to use magic.”
“That’s…”
“You couldn’t find the cause, right?”
Yuria nodded with a gloomy expression.
“There was a similar person in our village, and we know the cause.”
“!”
Her face brightened at the thought that maybe.
“I’ll check, so could you give me your hand?”
“O-Okay.”
On Yuria’s hand.
Levi placed a soil-covered ‘Gentle Mandrake’.
Then.
-Kyaaaaaaah!!!
The herb with a face that had been sleeping soundly.
Screamed as if the whole world was collapsing.
Yuria, startled, pulled her hand away.
The scream subsided instantly.
“The ‘Gentle Mandrake’ can detect even the faintest curse. As expected, it is a curse.”
“A curse?”
“Yes, Ethan-nim. This curse slowly paralyzes the mana circuits so you don’t notice. The total amount of usable mana decreases, and eventually, you become unable to use even the simplest magic.”
Yuria asked because it was exactly the same as the symptoms she had experienced.
“…Um, Miss Levi. Could you tell me the name of the curse?”
“It’s also called ‘Mana Circuit Twisting’, ‘Mage Killer’, but the most striking name is…”
She continued speaking as she reburied the mandrake.
“‘Jealousy of the Inferior Student’… I heard it’s been secretly passed down like a family tradition in educational institutions.”
At those words.
Yuria collapsed and cried loudly.
“Teacher Yuria.”
“Hic, sob. Y-Yes?”
“Stop crying and raise your head.”
Ethan extended his hand and said.
“There’s a way to fix it.”
‘Now Ethan-nim will solve it, right?’
After watching contentedly as another person was about to be saved.
Levi slipped out of the mansion quietly.
“The target is approaching.”
“The trash has taken the bait. Let’s go.”
Salvation is his role.
And cleaning up the surroundings was her job.
*
“Aing, tsk. Failed, failed.”
The Serdin Free Market Guild is not naive.
When a stranger they’ve never seen before suddenly applies to be a swordsmanship instructor.
They don’t welcome them with “Oh my, really? Go right this way~”.
-Please submit documents proving your experience first.
-What experience?
-Academy swordsmanship instructor or knighthood service certification, or at least proof of working for some noble family.
-I don’t have anything like that.
-Yes, you can just go back then.
Victor and Tori were enraged by the dry response of the counter clerk, but.
Besides glaring, there was nothing they could do.
They couldn’t beat 10 heavily armed guild guards with just the two of them.
“If we go back like this, the junior boss will have words for us.”
Tori didn’t like getting scolded either, so.
He racked his tiny brain and came up with a good idea.
“Boss, do we really need to bring a guild recommendation?”
“What nonsense is that?”
“Can’t we just go and make something up? The portrait showed he looked like a completely naive kid.”
Victor shouted at Tori with an expression that said ‘Are you a genius?’
“Shall we try?!”
“Yes!”
The two idiots ran excitedly towards the mansion.
You never know! It might work?
Then they wouldn’t have to go back to the warehouse and get scolded by the junior boss.
But.
“Uh…”
“B-Boss! My feet!”
In the middle of the path.
They got stuck in the ground that had turned into a sticky swamp.
“Shit! What is this!”
They struggled with all their might to escape, but.
The more they flailed, the deeper and faster they sank.
“Mmph! Mph!”
“…Guk!”
In less than 5 minutes.
The two disappeared cleanly from the surface.
“Puha!”
“Boss! Are you alright?”
“Where is this?”
The two, trapped in a pitch-black narrow space.
Felt along the walls and reached a wider space.
At that moment.
Torches on the wall lit up one by one.
As the darkness cleared.
“Welcome, worms.”
A girl sitting in a chair and.
10 men lined up behind her appeared.
“Y-You, who are you!”
“These bastards dare!”
Victor and Tori recognized the urgent situation and.
Immediately pulled out daggers from their clothes, but.
“Kneel.”
“Guk?!”
With just one word.
Their knees stuck to the floor.
“W-Which family are you? Red Rose? Wandering Troupe?”
“What? Those lowly names?”
Snap!
As the girl snapped her fingers.
The men started moving.
They took away the daggers from Victor and Tori who couldn’t move.
Stripped off their outer clothes.
And shackled their limbs to restraints embedded in the wall.
“I’ll say this once. You’ll die here.”
They couldn’t answer because gags were put in their mouths.
But the girl didn’t care.
“Your bodies won’t be found. You’ll rot here in a terrible state. The process leading to death will be extremely painful too.”
“So I’ll give you a chance.”
‘A chance?’
As Victor looked at the girl with empty eyes.
She smiled as if he was cute.
“Who sent you? Which organization from where? Tell me all about the higher-ups you know. If you do, I’ll reduce your pain a little. But if you stubbornly try to keep your loyalty to the end-”
The girl gestured with her chin.
A waiting man picked up a hammer and.
Approached Tori.
“Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!”
He extended just one finger.
Aimed precisely and.
Bang!
“Mmmmmph!!!”
“You’ll get to enjoy pain worse than death for a long, long time.”
Soon a new man approached.
He grabbed Tori’s finger with the shattered nail.
Victor inadvertently imagined what the intent might be.
For bringing thin tweezers and needles.
“Mmmmph! Mmph!”
He wailed to please kill him, he’ll talk.
But.
The gag was not removed.
“That’s a shame. What’s that loyalty for.”
“Mmph! Mph! Mmmmph!!!”
“Begin.”
From the start, there was no intention of killing them cleanly.
Victor wanted to spill information but couldn’t.
Levi judged that this was a fitting end.
For fools who dared to oppose him.
*
Meanwhile.
At the mansion.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Yuria, who was freed from the curse after drinking the panacea.
Knelt down and worshipped Ethan while crying.

Once a promising student at Kailos Academy.
When she became unable to use magic, she was kicked out of the magic department.
The promised acceptance to the magic tower also turned to bubbles.
Even though she graduated with excellent grades, it became a source of resentment.
As her family’s fortunes declined and she had no choice but to wander around as a private tutor.
She still couldn’t let go of magic books.
To such a person, the potion Ethan handed her.
Was like a miracle.
“How can I ever repay this grace…”
“Of course you should repay it. This is quite expensive, you know.”
Ethan drafted a contract on the spot.
“Please take good care of magic education from now on too.”
Ethan, who was struggling to dissuade Yuria from saying she would teach diligently without a salary increase.
-Whoosh!
Flinched at the blue sphere that flew in at high speed.
“A mana messenger ball?”
-This is a letter sent by Inspector General Tom Muro of the Etrion Inspection Bureau.
‘Isn’t that the person from back then?’
The inspector who caused a commotion saying he would arrest Councilor Enfield.
And put Ethan in danger.
‘Come on, he got promoted because of that?’
While someone is suffering from misunderstandings because of it.
Irritation surged, but curious about the letter’s contents, he opened it for now.
[The underworld of Etre is targeting Serdin. Be careful.]
‘What nonsense is this now?’
Somehow it felt like he got entangled in another troublesome matter.