Dark Cloud had not yet awakened its intellect, but it was keenly sensitive to goodwill and malice: the instant the devil's hand seized its mane, it shook its body and flung the hand off.
The devil froze, its face stretching out long, then coated its hand in a layer of energy and reached for Dark Cloud again: "A mere animal dares to look down on Garfield the Great?"
"Whinny!" Dark Cloud backed up a step, leveled its horn at the devil with a threatening cry, its forehooves pawing uneasily at the ground, ready to charge at any moment.
The devil grew even more displeased. It kept walking forward, hands spread, grinning darkly; with its strength it cared nothing for Dark Cloud's threat — even if it stood perfectly still, Dark Cloud's attacks could never touch it. "It seems I must teach you a lesson, and make you understand that Garfield the Great is someone you must—"
Smack! Before the devil could finish, a whip cracked out of nowhere and scattered its body, and then Adam's voice sounded from behind it: "Must what?"
The devil turned its head with a sheepish grin and saw Adam walking toward it carrying fresh grass, beans, and every kind of feed. Forgetting the pain, it streaked to Adam's side. "Master, why should you do such menial work yourself? Your loyal servant would be glad to do it for you."
Adam swept it aside with a kick. "Get lost."
When Dark Cloud saw Adam, it let out a joyful sound and stood obediently by the trough, waiting for Adam to feed it.
When Ophelia and the two nobles reached the stable, what they saw was Adam sitting by the trough with no regard for appearances, staring blankly at one spot, one hand gently stroking Dark Cloud's big head.
"Hahahaha." The Duke laughed before he said a word. "I never imagined Master Adam had a taste for this. If you like mixed-blood mounts, Master Adam, you're welcome to pick from my stables — take whichever one you fancy."
Adam patted Dark Cloud's head and rose from the ground. "Is there something you need?"
"There is a matter on which we'd like Master Adam's opinion. But the banquet is about to begin — why don't we talk it over there?"
The banquet at the Duke's mansion was as extravagant as ever, but Adam had long since grown used to the fine fare of the Mage Continent and only picked at the food. The others had little appetite either, and the moment they saw Adam set down his knife and fork, they stopped eating as well.
After a brief silence, the Duke was the first to speak. "Master Adam, as you know, the royal family of Madeira Island was wiped out in the Church of the Supreme God's attack."
Adam nodded.
"Madeira Island needs a new master, so that it can better serve Moldo. I believe there is no noble on the island better qualified than Count Johnson and myself, so..."
Adam asked, "What is the academy's position?"
"Master Adam, the academy appointed you the person in charge of this mission, which means that in matters on this island, you have complete authority."
"I have no objection. Settle it among yourselves." They had not mentioned that lord in the east whose name Adam still did not know, and Adam had no interest in asking. Even now, if not for the academy's mission, Adam would never have set foot on this land again; who ruled it from here on, and what it became, had nothing to do with him.
The Duke smiled happily; Count Johnson still wore his granite face; Ophelia looked as though a weight had lifted. By now, at long last, she finally owed nothing more to the name Johnson.
Back in the room, the devil said to Adam, "My master, you are truly too generous. Those two humans just now were plainly trying to give you some benefits."
Adam himself gathered up the papers on the table, covered in drawn electrical magic rune groups, and said carelessly, "Their benefits are meaningless — energy stones at most. That sort of thing" — he put the papers into his personal storage space — "I'm not short of."
The devil blinked and blinked, thought of the endless income from the meditation method and the profits Adam's rune groups would soon bring in, and nodded in agreement.
Early the next morning, seen off by the Duke and the Count, Adam and the other three boarded a merchant ship that ran between Karachi Port and Madeira Island, together with Dark Cloud, and set out on the journey home.
The sort of high-grade vessel they had taken on the way out did not often come to deserted islands beyond the Mage Continent; for ships of that class, a single round trip did not even offset the energy stones burned on the voyage, so the four had no choice but to return on an ordinary ship like this one.
Everyone aboard the merchant ship was an ordinary person, and they were terrified and flattered to be hosting four Mage apprentices. The captain came in person to settle the four in the finest cabins; even Dark Cloud was assigned a servant of its own. The devil announced that it was jealous again, and Adam, fed up with its endless stream of strange remarks, kicked it out of the room. The devil cheerfully went off to find the captain and, borrowing Adam's tiger pelt, threw its weight around to its heart's content.
The three-month voyage was largely uneventful. After they entered the high-magic sea, magical beasts attacked now and then, but the devil dealt with them cheerfully, and its treatment rose accordingly — so it threw itself into the work with ever greater relish.
By the time they walked down the gangplank, the devil had made a mint; hung all over with every sort of merchandise, it kept swaying around Dark Cloud like a peddler, to Dark Cloud's great irritation.
"Get rid of all that junk you're carrying," Adam said once they were out of the port.
The devil protested indignantly, "How is any of this junk? This is the payment I earned trading with humans."
"Worthless. Items of this material could never withstand the pressure of teleportation."
The devil froze, looking at the things on its body in some difficulty. It had never once thought of asking Adam to put them in his personal storage space, so it could only look to the others for help.
Cristel gave a soft laugh. "I can help, but there's far too much here — you really do need to get rid of some of it."
The devil looked like it was at its own funeral, shedding things reluctantly the whole way, and finally settled what to bring just before they reached the teleportation formation.
Then Ophelia suddenly spoke up. "Actually, you could have the ordinary folk at Karachi Port deliver them to the academy." With that, leading Dark Cloud, she saluted the Mage of the Second Elemental Spire and stepped into the teleportation formation.
Dark Cloud put on an unnervingly human expression of mockery and snorted hard at the devil.
The devil was instantly dumbstruck. Tears in its eyes, it handed the rest of its things to Cristel, then glared at Ophelia and Dark Cloud with grief and fury, muttering nonstop as it returned into Adam's mind.
As the teleportation light flickered, the group once again stood on the soil of Moldo Tower after their long absence.
Before they could leave, an alchemy puppet came straight up to them. "Apprentice Adam, Mage Blake is waiting for you."