Another World: The Failed Magician

White muttered a couple more words before handing the envelope containing the mission to Li Mengyu.

After the two said goodbye, White stood quietly in place until he could no longer see Li Mengyu's back before slowly turning his gaze away.

Just then, a boy's voice rang out from behind White.

"Grandpa is right here, isn't he?"

White turned around and saw a boy pushing a wheelchair behind him.

The elderly man sitting in the wheelchair was Kanewall.

The old man nodded and looked at his grandson: "Cassie, you go back first."

Hearing this, Cassie looked puzzled.

Seeing his grandson's puzzled expression, the old man continued, "That old man in front is your grandfather, an old friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in a long time, so let's find a place to get together."

"Yes, Grandpa, your health is good."

Before Cassie could finish speaking, the old man interrupted, "It's alright, they're just two old folks, just catching up. I'll have him take me back later. You should go home now."

Faced with his grandfather's request, Cassie couldn't insist any longer. After giving his grandfather a few more instructions, he left.

After his grandson left, Carnewall turned to White and spoke first.

"Long time no see, you old bastard."

"You too."

White then shifted his gaze to Carnivor's legs.

“You’re in this state, and you haven’t mentioned it in your letters.”

Kanewall slapped his legs twice with his hands.

"As people get older, they're bound to have some minor health problems, aren't they?"

"Only someone like you can call this a minor problem."

“Of course.” Carnivor’s aged face beamed with pride.

White was somewhat amused by Carnivor's smug expression.

"It's not like I'm praising you."

"Sigh, after all these years, White, you're still as sharp-tongued as ever. You came all the way here to see me because you were worried about me, but as soon as you saw me, you couldn't say a single nice thing."

White was about to retort when Kanewall continued speaking, not giving White a chance to speak.

"You don't need to explain, I understand. In the words of young people, this is called being arrogant. But it's not very interesting for an old man like you to be arrogant."

"No! Why would you have that misconception? It's because my student happens to be here on a mission. That's why I'm here!"

"You don't need to explain. I understand, I understand everything."

Seeing Carneville's knowing look, White felt his body temperature rising rapidly.

But White quickly calmed down.

"You're still the same as before. Talking to you is torture."

"It's alright. After all, there aren't many people I can say things like that to these days."

White fell silent upon hearing this.

"What's with that constipated look on your face? Are you trying to pity me? Wow, White, you've really turned into an old man."

White's somewhat heavy mood vanished instantly upon hearing those words.

"I think the worst decision I made today was that I didn't just leave."

"How could that be? You should be happy to see an old friend."

"If it were someone else, that would certainly be possible, but with you, I'll only get angrier and angrier."

"But even if you knew this would happen, you still came, didn't you?"

"Yes, even knowing this, I still came. After all, there aren't many old friends left to see."

Just then, Carnewall extended his aged right hand to White.

"Hey. Get me a bottle of fire dragon tongue."

"You want to drink dragon tongue tea with your health condition?"

"When did you start talking so much nonsense? I told you to get it, so hurry up and get it. Otherwise, why do you think I sent my grandson away?"

White took out two bottles of Fire Dragon Serpent from his spatial ring, holding one in his own hand and tossing the other to Kanewall, who was sitting in a wheelchair.

"You are responsible for your own health. I don't want to see your descendants come after me after you drink yourself into a mess."

With a swift movement of his right hand, Kanewall caught the Fire Dragon Tongue firmly in his own hand, a feat that belied the presence of an elderly man in a wheelchair.

"What does it matter? I've lived a full life, and you're still here. After I'm gone, I'll entrust my descendants to you."

"Who will take care of your descendants? Of course, you have to take care of your own descendants."

White opened the bottle cap, raised the Fire Dragon Tongue, and took a big gulp. The spicy, stimulating sensation instantly spread throughout White's body.

Looking at White's satisfied expression.

Carnewall also opened his bottle, but unlike White, he only took a small sip.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"Hahaha! You've finally met your match! If you're not feeling well, don't push yourself. Hahaha!"

"roll!"

Carnivor's aged cheeks were slightly flushed, whether from drinking the dragon tongue tea or from being angered by White, it was hard to tell.

After coughing a few more times, Kanewall gradually recovered.

"Sigh, why are people so troublesome when they get old? When I was young, I could drink twenty or thirty bottles of this strength of tequila without getting drunk."

"Keep bragging, you're just bragging."

"Hmph! You're just jealous of my drinking capacity."

"I'm jealous of you? You're such a weakling. When we used to drink together, you were always the first one to pass out. The only thing you're good at is talking."

Carnivor didn't argue, his eyes filled with a complicated look as he looked at the nearly full bottle of liquor in his hand. After much hesitation, he finally put the cap back on.

Seeing his old friend's action, White surprisingly didn't utter a sarcastic remark. Recalling Carnewall's youthful, alcoholic ways, and then looking at the old man in his wheelchair now, he could feel his memories beginning to fade.

After putting the cap back on, Carnivor twisted it a few times to make sure it was sealed properly, then hid the bottle of tequila under his coat.

This maneuver stumped White.

"No! Since you can't drink it, shouldn't your next step be to return the bottle to me?"

"You're dreaming. You think you can take back what you gave me? No way."

"You're not going to drink it, so what are you holding it for?"

"I'm holding it so I can drink it later, of course."

"Later? When do you plan to drink it?"

"Of course, it'll be left at your funeral."

After those words, the air between the two of them suddenly became quiet.

If a normal person heard someone say that about them, their first reaction would be anger. But White didn't.

After a moment of silence, White continued, "How did you figure it out?"

“I know you too well. You’re always so busy, either worrying about things in the Federation or about your students. Do you ever come to visit me? Besides, Lu Kui and Cahilllo told me in their letters. You even went to see them a couple of days ago. So you don’t have much time left, do you?”

Facing his old friend, he no longer hid his suspicions and nodded.

"I never expected that you would pass away before me. Alas, it seems that I really cannot entrust my juniors to your care. What a pity."

As he spoke, Kanewall took out the Fire Dragon Tongue again.

"Come on. Let's have one last one."

The two old men raised their bottles and gently tapped them together before drinking the wine in one gulp.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Carnewall started coughing again. But this time, White didn't laugh at him.

"Since you already knew, why did you still put the wine away?"

After coughing twice more, Kanewall slowly said, "I know nothing. I know. I just said it offhand, and you confessed."

"what?"

"Hmph, you can never keep a secret. One trick and you'll confess everything."

"You're the smartest one among us, that's why I came to see you last."

Carnivor watched as White remained completely unaffected after finishing an entire bottle of Dragon Tongue.

"Is there anything you need to ask me for? If so, say it quickly. Maybe the atmosphere is right and I can still help you out."

"You old man, just take good care of yourself. I've already taken care of everything I needed to arrange."

"Fine, you gave up this opportunity yourself."

With that, Kanewall put away the half-empty bottle of Dragon Tongue.

"Come on, give me one last push."

White slowly walked behind his old friend and pushed the wheelchair slowly toward the town.

Neither of them spoke the rest of the way; the two elderly people were unusually quiet.

……

At dawn, the first rays of sunlight shone upon the land of the Silver Dragon Empire.

Weston Pollier was walking along a dimly lit path. In the past, he would have been sitting in the Silver Throne, handling state affairs.

The path that Peril was walking on was eerily dark, so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. But he didn't seem to care at all; every step he took was steady, and at each fork in the road, he didn't even need to think, his body instinctively taking a step. It was clear that he had walked this path many times before.

At that moment, a bright red pupil appeared beside the dark path. The owner of the pupil was staring intently at him.

"How come you don't even recognize me anymore?"

As the words fell, a silver-white earth dragon, five or six meters tall, slowly emerged from one side of the path, exuding a terrifying aura.

The earth dragon slowly walked to Polier's side and brought its nose close to Polier's, sniffing carefully.

Despite the enormous creature beside him, Polier remained completely unconcerned.

Then, the earth dragon erupted with a piercing cry, and opened its blood-red maw to bite Polier.

Faced with the attack from the behemoth, Polier simply raised his fist and casually swung it.

Then, a blast of air swept past, and the towering earth dragon was thrown away.

But immediately afterward, the earth dragon rose from the ground and unleashed an even more terrifying roar, attempting to launch another attack.

At that moment, a pleasant voice rang out.

"Xiaobai, stop."

Upon hearing the sound, the earth dragon became docile.

Just then, a silver-haired girl wearing silver-white armor appeared beside the earth dragon and gently stroked it. The girl was very beautiful; if you ignored the pair of silver-white dragon horns on her head, she looked no different from a human.

The earth dragon also took the opportunity to rub against the girl, looking ingratiating, a stark contrast to its fierce demeanor just moments before.

After calming the earth dragon down, the girl looked at Polier.

"Polier, if I remember correctly, you should be on your way to a mission right now!"

Polier nodded in response.

"Then shouldn't you explain to me why you're here? You should know where this place is."

"Isn't this the place where your silver dragon clan lives?"

"How dare you! Polier, is that how you refer to the Holy Land? Do you still think you're the king of the Silver Dragon Empire here?"

Upon hearing this, Polier couldn't help but chuckle.

The girl glanced at him with some displeasure: "What's so funny?"

“I am the king of the Silver Dragon Empire, and I am wherever I go.”

"Polier, have you forgotten who put you on the throne?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten that."

"If you haven't forgotten, then why are you here? You should be carrying out your mission now."

"Go on a mission? Who gave me the right to go on a mission? Locas? What right does he have to tell me what to do?"

"Didn't he show you the imperial edict?"

"Of course I gave it to him. Otherwise, do you think he would dare to point fingers at me without the imperial decree?"

"Since you've seen the imperial decree, what else is there to say? Go back now. I can pretend nothing happened."

"I want to see Fino."

"Hmph! Do you think you can just see the clan leader whenever you want? Besides, the clan leader is currently in seclusion. He has already given an order that no one is allowed to pay him a visit."

What if I said I absolutely had to see it today?

As soon as she finished speaking, a terrifying aura emanated from the girl's silver-white armor. The earth dragon beside her, sensing the girl's presence, also adopted a fierce expression, staring intently at Polier.

"Step aside."

Despite facing two Martial King-level powers, Polier remained remarkably calm. His tone was perfectly natural, as if he were stating something perfectly reasonable.

"What right does a mere human, who has only survived to this day by virtue of dragon blood, have to utter such boastful words?"

As she spoke, a silver-white longsword appeared in the girl's hand.

Then, the girl unleashed the unique aura of the Silver Dragon clan.

Faced with the aura of a pure dragon, even the earth dragon at the Martial King level was suppressed, and its massive body instantly knelt on the ground.

But when the girl looked at Polly with a hint of smugness, the scene before her eyes was not what she had expected.

In the girl's eyes, a half-dragon like Polier, who had received dragon blood, would surely have no choice but to kneel down obediently when faced with her pure dragon aura.

But in reality, Polier remained standing in the same spot as before, completely unconcerned, with even a hint of disdain in his eyes.