After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

In an instant, a biting cold air filled the entire kitchen.

With a slight crackling sound, the ground beneath Anna's feet began to freeze first, and then spread to the surrounding area at a speed of about one centimeter per second.

Maybe they knew it would turn out like this, so the helpers stayed so far away.

And the situation is still developing.

As the room temperature continued to drop, Aize, who was a few meters away, exhaled white air.

The bucket that was in direct contact with the magic power also completely turned into a solid state within about ten seconds.

Ice making is complete.

"Phew—done."

Anna exhaled, turned around and came to Aize again.

And Aize was stunned.

The power of the freezing spell just now, if released on a person at close range, is almost lethal, more terrifying than many low-level professional magicians.

But the problem is——

"How did you learn magic? Did Weir teach you?"

"Hmm... sort of?"

The little girl tilted her head, looking innocent, fully aware of what was happening.

"I'm supposed to be attending that magic academy, right? So the textbooks were delivered early this morning, and I just learned a little bit by myself based on what was inside. That's it... Hehe, compared to the witch sister, I'm still a long way behind~"

Chapter 18: Shadow of the Demon

Among the humans in this world, magicians are extremely rare and valuable talents and combat forces.

Even if the army has tens of thousands of troops, having a combat magic corps of several hundred people as support can be considered a super luxurious configuration.

As for those used in daily life, such as the magic of increasing production in the fields, ice making and temperature regulation in the nobles' mansions, etc., there are very few people who master them.

The reason for this situation is not because it is difficult to cultivate, in fact, it is quite the opposite.

Every human being has magic power in their body - this is the prerequisite for the formation of enchanted weapons.

A rough estimate of the proportion of people with the potential to become magicians is around 5%. If we substitute this into the overall population, the number is actually quite large.

The reason why it is so rare is entirely due to the monopoly of the Magicians Association.

The Magicians' Association is a multinational organization that is comparable in size and influence to the Adventurers' Guild. It has an extremely long history, even predating any existing human country.

Throughout its long history, although it has split and reorganized many times and has many factions within it, its role of cooperating with local nobles and royal families and monopolizing magic research and teaching has never changed.

For the association, they can control the overall number of magicians and engage in hunger marketing, on the one hand grabbing a large amount of tuition fees, on the other hand reaping huge commissions, and making the best of both worlds.

As for the local authorities, although the actions of the association made them somewhat unhappy, the excessive spread of magic among civilians was indeed not a good thing for them.

Let’s leave aside the issues of public security and violence.

A gifted civilian magician is definitely a nightmare that keeps them awake at night for those masters who regard him as less than a master.

Therefore, the two sides hit it off and maintained the magic in its current state.

For humans who are struggling to fight against the demons, this is an extremely wasteful and unproductive act of fighting power.

The overly small circle and high entry threshold have also led to the slow development of human magic technology, leaving the witch clan far behind.

Therefore, Aize wanted to rely on Villian's ability to bypass the existing magic association and directly establish a new and more efficient system.

It is still in the preparation stage, but once it starts, it will inevitably face tremendous pressure.

Aize thinks it's worth it.

And let’s not talk about that for now.

In order to expand the scale of magicians more smoothly, Villian spent a lot of effort in compiling teaching materials to make the content easier to learn and master.

But that is only relatively easy.

After all, controlling magic power is a complicated matter that requires a long period of practice.

The purpose of sending the book to some potential students, in addition to testing the content of the book, is also to hope that they can sense the existence of magic a little bit so that they will not be caught off guard when the time comes.

Just being able to do this is amazing.

But Anna, in addition to her busy shop, was able to go from being a complete layman to a novice magician just by learning on her own!

Aize doesn't understand magic.

But Aize knew that this was outrageous.

After all, there are few people in this world who understand better than him how difficult it is to learn magic.

Speaking of which, when Heidi came to Tafia and encountered the Black Hound attacking in the street and holding Anna hostage, she seemed to have used her magic to escape?

I was busy with many things at the time and didn't pay much attention to it.

Now think about it, a little girl can make an elite assassin unit like the Black Hound become paralyzed. How outrageous is that?

This child, maybe... No, there is no maybe.

He must be an incredible genius.

Thinking of this, Aize slowly moved his gaze to the top of Anna's head, to the black horns that were barely visible due to the hair and headdress.

What kind of hybrid is this guy?

The shape of the horns looks like a succubus at first glance, and succubus are indeed good at magic.

But what they are good at are basically spiritual.

Elemental ones... I haven't heard of them.

Moreover, the succubus's weird personality is engraved in its DNA. A decent person like Hecate is hard to come by in hundreds of years. This child is well-behaved and sensible, which is obviously not right.

There seems to be only one possibility left.

Demon race.

Or rather, the Demon King clan.

The most powerful race among the demons.

It is said that they are rare in number, practice dual cultivation with demons, and have genuine eternal life. They act in an extremely secretive way. Throughout history, they have only appeared in human vision a few times.

This is a good thing.

Because, whenever it appears, it will inevitably be accompanied by bloody storms or even devastating disasters.

So, even Aize had never seen them in person.

Even the intelligence network throughout the demon clan and Villian, who was once a great witch, could not provide any valuable information about the demon clan.

This even made Aize doubt whether demons really existed.

This little girl in front of me...

"Big brother? What's wrong?"

Aize was lost in thought, with a serious expression and said nothing.

This made Anna, who was being stared at by him, feel very strange, and she asked with her head tilted.

Aize came back to his senses and quickly shook his head:

"No, nothing, I just happened to remember something."

This speculation is currently without any basis, so it is better not to tell it to a child.

Try to do a little research.

"Anna, have you learned the other magic spells in the book?"

"Hmm! There are probably... well, eleven of them who can use it relatively skillfully!"

It's even more outrageous than I imagined. It's better to give you a reminder just in case.

Aize stood up and pressed the other person's shoulder with a smile:

"Anna, most of the magic in the book is still in the experimental stage. It's okay for you to preview it, but when using it, be sure to stay away from others, otherwise someone might get hurt! Besides the freezing spell, try not to let others see it."

His tone was kind, but his attitude was unusually serious.

It was true that it was to prevent magic from getting out of control and hurting people, but it was more to keep the matter hidden.

Otherwise, if the Magicians Association finds out too early, who knows what those guys will do.

"Okay, since my brother said so, I understand!"

Anna didn't think much about it and nodded simply.

Just in case, while I'm away, I'd better ask Constantine to arrange a few secret guards to keep an eye on the surroundings and provide some protection.

"Well, be good~"

Aize rubbed the other person's head, then sat back in his seat, picked up the spoon and continued to taste the shaved ice that had melted a lot.

Next time I’ll try making it myself at home.

No, if you put in more ingredients, maybe you can even make real ice cream.

Just think about it...

"Phew, there are so many people here today. Sorry I'm late. I'll come and help."

As they were talking, the door to the kitchen was pushed open, and Alicia walked into the store, put down two large bags, and reached for the apron on the wall.

Then, she glanced at Aize sitting in the corner.

The outstretched hand then froze there.

After a moment's delay—

“Ai Ai Ai Aize! You’re back! When did you come back? Why are you here?!”

Earlier, when they decided to go on vacation halfway, Alicia did not follow, but returned to Tafia first with the main group.

According to her, she plans to help Anna's shop after returning.

This should be the case now.

But what was with that unusually flustered attitude? It was as if he had been caught skipping work by his boss.

"Well, I'm back because something happened, so next..."

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry!!!”

Unexpectedly, the pink-haired girl became even more panicked and her emotions became abnormally excited.

Even bowing continuously.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Aize's house hasn't been cleaned today! I was thinking of going there in the evening after finishing here, but you're back so soon... I'll go now!"

After saying that, he turned around and was about to leave.

Aize stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar:

"Wait, wait! What are you talking about? Why do we have to clean the house now?"

Alicia turned her head somewhat mechanically, her usually lifeless blue pupils actually trembling violently:

"No, but before, Aize...didn't you ask me to be your maid? Isn't that what a maid is supposed to do?"

"That's just a disguise to keep you inside the house without arousing suspicion! Just do something, why are you taking it so seriously?!"

Aize was speechless for a moment.

Besides, don't the maids do the cleaning regularly? Why does this job fall on you?

Alicia was stunned for a moment, and seemed very puzzled:

"B-but Aize, the puppet masters are maids, and I am a maid too. If I leave all the work to them, wouldn't that be... inappropriate?"

how to say?

She clearly knew every word, but when they put them together, Aize had no idea what she wanted to say.

The maids specially made by Villian in the house have reached perfection after complex programming and a lot of modifications with Aize's participation.