I Tricked a God

The wagon continued its steady descent, its wheels rattling rhythmically over the road.

With every turn down the slope, the camp drew closer, and its true scale became increasingly apparent.

Kael could now clearly make out the enormous dome of mana covering the entire military camp. Faint ripples of mana occasionally traveled across its surface, like waves spreading over still water.

Below it rose a massive stone wall.

It encircled the camp in a broad ring and looked tall and sturdy enough to prevent spies from slipping through. Towers rose at regular intervals along the wall, with soldiers patrolling between them.

At the center of one section stood a large gate, toward which an unbroken stream of wagons now flowed. The inspections at the entrance looked less like a checkpoint and more like part of a well-oiled machine.

Lipa looked ahead as well and smiled faintly.

“We're almost there, Kael.”

Kael merely chuckled and replied with a touch of nervousness, “After everything you've told me, I'm actually a little afraid to go inside.”

Lipa was just about to respond when, behind her, the lean young man suddenly let out a familiar yelp.

By now, the four young men had finished their inspection and were simply watching the road. It looked as though something had frightened him.

Kael instinctively glanced back over his shoulder.

“What is it, Sindri?”

“M-Magpie... She's at the gate...”

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere inside the wagon changed noticeably. Everyone immediately tensed and fixed their eyes ahead.

Following their gaze, Kael finally saw the young woman standing near the camp gate.

“So that's Magpie...” Kael murmured inwardly as he sized her up.

A white cloak was draped over her black military uniform, and her long, straight hair was rather unusual. Most of it was ash gray, but the roots and the tips were a rich black.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Kael continued studying her, thinking, “A beautiful woman...”

Magpie possessed remarkably delicate and pleasing features. Her thick ash-gray eyebrows complemented the unusual color of her hair, while her slightly languid, almost sleepy gaze gave her an oddly relaxed air. A faint smile played across her lips, and she stood with such effortless composure that it seemed she was out for a leisurely stroll rather than standing at the gate of a massive military camp.

Her long black fingernails tapped thoughtfully against her chin as she chatted with the guards.

But that was not what drew Kael's attention the most.

For one brief moment, Kael even caught himself thinking that Magpie seemed to beckon those around her with her aura. Not deliberately, not insistently, but completely naturally. As though anyone near her would want to linger just a little longer, listen to her voice, or simply continue the conversation.

“There's something strangely captivating about the way she carries herself...” Kael noted inwardly.

The feeling immediately put Kael on guard.

“Is this her true nature, or just a mask?” he wondered.

After everything he had heard about the members of the Doomgrin Squad, he was no longer convinced that first impressions meant anything at all. Especially when it came to a woman whose mere presence was enough to make an entire crowd of soldiers uneasy.

But at that moment, Lipa interrupted his thoughts. Leaning forward slightly, she murmured, as though forcing herself to speak, “Kael... I'm terribly sorry... Would you...”

Yet she did not dare finish, swallowing the rest of her words.

Still, Kael had already heard enough.

Glancing at Lipa and the other young men, who continued casting tense looks toward the gate, he immediately understood what they had been about to ask.

“They've already helped me enough. I can't put them at risk,” Kael thought.

With that, a friendly smile appeared on his face, and he replied calmly, “It's all right. I hope we'll see each other again around the camp.”

Lipa looked visibly embarrassed.

It was as though she felt ashamed that he had guessed her unspoken request so easily.

She even hurriedly raised a hand, trying to say something.

“No... I'm sorry, I...”

But she never finished. Kael stood up and, with one fluid motion, jumped down onto the ground.

Turning toward his first acquaintances at the front, Kael gave them a slight bow.

“Thank you for your help.”

Then he winked and added with a faint grin, “You'd better wait a little. Once I enter the camp, Magpie will leave with me, and you'll have a clear path.”

At those words, everyone in the wagon seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The lean young man even broke into a broad smile and, as usual without giving much thought to the consequences of his words, said, “It looks like you really are different from your future comrades, Kael. Good luck surviving among those lunatics.”

Lipa immediately turned toward him in indignation, clearly about to scold her subordinate for his loose tongue, but Kael merely laughed and shook his head.

“You certainly know how to raise morale, Sindri.”

That made the young man grin with satisfaction, while the others couldn't help smiling as well.

Waving goodbye, Kael quickened his pace and soon overtook the wagon as it slowly rolled toward the gate.

“Well then. I'm here.”

After the Academy, the Capital, his meeting with General Salazar, and the long journey, the front finally lay right before him.

Shifting his gaze to Magpie, who was still enthusiastically explaining something to the thoroughly exhausted guards, Kael added inwardly, “If my squad really is that chaotic... then what strategy would be most effective?”

Reflecting on everything he had heard over the past several hours, while involuntarily recalling a few philosophical treatises, he continued, “If madness reigns all around you, there's no point demanding that the world be reasonable. It's far more practical to work within the rules of the environment than to try replacing them with your own.”

The thought struck him as unexpectedly practical.

After all, he had no intention of reforming an entire squad of elite soldiers.

He simply needed to learn how to work with them.

“If Magpie truly is an eccentric, then I should respond in kind...” Kael concluded inwardly.

Almost immediately afterward, another thought surfaced, making him smile crookedly.

“Though... can I really call myself normal?” Kael murmured under his breath.

As he continued walking toward the gate, he thoughtfully rubbed his chin.

“I just have enough self-control to keep my impulsive urges in check...”

At those words, his gaze drifted back to Magpie, who was still tormenting the unfortunate guards with her attention, displaying some kind of utterly genuine enthusiasm.

And at that moment, another thought crossed Kael's mind, giving him pause.

“What if I loosened my self-control a little? Considering my past... maybe I really do belong among these oddballs?”

But just then, his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a chill that ran across his skin.

The sensation came so suddenly that Kael immediately became alert and lifted his eyes.

Magpie was looking directly at him.

Her languid gray eyes were no longer focused on the guards. She had finally noticed his approach and was now watching him from afar with unmistakable interest.

And a faint smile slowly spread across her lips.

“The red dragon on my chest must've given me away. I can't show any weakness...” flashed through Kael's mind.

With that thought, the same friendly smile appeared on his own face, and he calmly nodded toward Magpie. It was as though she had been waiting for exactly that, because her smile immediately widened.

As he continued walking toward the gate, Kael carefully assessed her aura.

“A Soulbound Mage... Or, as they'd say in Lasthold, a Golden Mage.”

Even among mages of her level, Kael could tell she was quite powerful.

“She's a full level above me... Elite squads really are formidable...”

The thought made Kael narrow his eyes.

“I wonder if there are even any recruits like me in the Doomgrin Squad. Or am I going to be the weakest one?”

As Kael pondered that, the distance between him and the gate rapidly dwindled.

He was now close enough to feel the eyes of those around him.

The guards who had only moments ago been trying to fend off Magpie's attention, the onlookers nearby, and even several soldiers waiting in line for the document check all kept glancing in his direction.

The reason was obvious—everyone could clearly see that Magpie had been waiting for him.

Only a minute earlier, she had been enthusiastically tormenting the unfortunate guards with conversation, showing off her bizarre inventions, and trying to persuade someone to test them on themselves. Now, however, she had suddenly fallen silent and was simply watching Kael approach with such interest that no one had any doubts.

At the sight of it, one of the guards visibly relaxed, realizing his ordeal was finally coming to an end.

As Kael drew closer, he noticed a small pendant hanging around Magpie's neck in the shape of a grinning mask.

It was the very same symbol that had adorned the seal on the envelope General Salazar had given him.

“So I was right...”

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Approaching the woman, Kael gave a slight bow and said calmly, “Greetings, Senior Magpie.”

Instead of returning the greeting, however, something completely unexpected happened.

Magpie suddenly stepped forward, closing the distance until she was almost face-to-face with him, then froze as she carefully examined his face.

Her gray eyes slowly traveled over his hair, lingered on his amber eyes, and then paused for several seconds somewhere around his chin.

Thanks to her high heels, she was only slightly taller than he was, so now she was looking almost directly into his face.

Kael was just about to say something when the woman suddenly lit up.

The next instant, her hands shot up and cupped his cheeks.

Before Kael had any chance to react, Magpie began squishing his cheeks while bouncing up and down with genuine delight.

“You're adorable! It's been so long since we've had a new recruit!”

She squeezed his cheeks once more before adding cheerfully, “The Captain is going to be thrilled!”

At the sight of this, the surrounding soldiers seemed to grow even more tense.

Several onlookers froze where they stood, while the guards at the gate looked at Kael with such sympathy that it was as though they were witnessing the beginning of an inevitable catastrophe.

Even the people waiting in line to have their papers checked were now stealing glances in their direction.

Kael himself, however, remained outwardly completely calm.

His face retained an almost stony expression, as though none of this bothered him in the slightest.

Only deep inside, a familiar irritation was slowly beginning to rise.

“Damn...” Kael thought, allowing Magpie to continue tormenting his cheeks. “She really is crazy...”

But no sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Magpie, just as unexpectedly, released his cheeks and quickly circled around him, scrutinizing him from head to toe. She did it so brazenly that Kael wasn't even sure how he was supposed to react.

Then, the moment her gaze shifted behind his back, her languid gray eyes suddenly widened.

“Wow! Puppy, you're a real talent!”

Without trying to hide her surprise, Magpie began picking at the Alchemists' Guild badge and added with genuine curiosity, “You know alchemy too!?”

The discovery made her face positively light up with delight, and the very next instant she whipped out one of her strange needle daggers and blurted, “Want to try my newest invention? It might make you a little nauseous, but you'll have tons of energy afterward!”

Quickly circling back until she was standing right in front of him again, Magpie smiled warmly and added, “You're probably exhausted after the trip!”

Then she poked the needle into his clothing.

“Here! Inject yourself with my elixir, and you'll feel much better.”

The sheer force of her enthusiasm, the chaos, and the nonstop torrent of words were enough to make Kael's head spin slightly. It felt as though Magpie was simultaneously inspecting him, offering suspicious elixirs, inventing nicknames, and drawing her own conclusions.

But remembering the strategy he had settled on while making his way to the camp, Kael quickly suppressed the urge to respond politely and “reasonably.”

Instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly and asked reproachfully, “Did you just call me Puppy?”

“Exactly!” Magpie immediately laughed and, as though to prove her point, ruffled his hair. “You're just as cute!”

Silence hung in the air for several seconds.

Then Kael said something that made many of the soldiers watching the scene freeze in place.

Raising an eyebrow slightly, he looked Magpie straight in the eye and said with complete seriousness, “Judging by your behavior, you're the one who looks more like a puppy.”

Magpie blinked in surprise, and Kael continued even more bluntly, “You're just as energetic, and you're constantly darting around in front of me.”

Silence instantly descended over the gate.

One of the guards even stopped breathing.

The other slowly turned to his companion, as though trying to make sure he hadn't misheard.

Several nearby onlookers stood with their mouths slightly open.

One of the soldiers watching the exchange even went pale before murmuring in stunned disbelief, “A madman...”

His neighbor slowly nodded, never taking his eyes off Kael.

“He's just like the rest of their squad. They never send normal people to them...”

But the very next moment, loud yet remarkably pleasant laughter rang out by the gate.

Magpie threw her head back, then brushed back her ash-gray hair and, still smiling brightly, waved her needle dagger in front of Kael's face.

“No! I'm Magpie!”

Then she suddenly hopped forward, spreading her elbows out to the sides like wings as she began imitating a bird.

“Have you ever seen how funny they hop around when they aren't flying?”

After taking a few more short hops, she laughed at herself and added cheerfully, “See? I'm just as funny!”

The soldiers watching all this looked as though they had long since stopped understanding what was happening.

Still laughing, Magpie quickly hopped back over to Kael and declared, “So I can't be Puppy.”

Determined to withstand her eccentric onslaught and keep the conversation from descending completely into absurdity, Kael answered calmly, “And I can't be Puppy.”

“Why not?” Magpie asked at once, genuinely curious.

“Because I'm Kael.”

For a few seconds, Magpie pondered that.

Then she pouted slightly and said with feigned reluctance, “All right. I'll call you Kael...”

But almost immediately, a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes.

“If you try my new elixir.”

With those words, she poked the needle against his clothes again, though she did not pierce the fabric.

It was more as though she was testing the limits of what she could get away with, sincerely curious to see whether she could push Kael just a little further.

Instead of answering, however, Kael looked at the glass chamber inside the needle, where a cloudy blue liquid swirled lazily.

Narrowing his eyes, he silently watched for several seconds as it slowly trickled down the inner walls.

“Judging by the viscosity and the cloudiness...” Kael noted inwardly. “This looks more like a poison than an elixir...”

Then he looked back at Magpie and said distrustfully, “Is this some kind of test? Or are you deliberately deceiving me?”

At the question, Magpie's mouth even fell open slightly.

Her face filled with such genuine surprise that it was as though Kael had just accused her of something outrageously unfair.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

Immediately pressing her free hand to her chest, Magpie added with obvious hurt, “This really is my new elixir!”

Then she held the needle up higher and proudly began showing it off to everyone around them.

“It gives your body a powerful surge of energy and endurance!”

Yet the more confidently Magpie explained it, the more skeptical Kael's expression became.

“She actually believes what she's saying... Fine, I'll keep playing along the same way...” Kael murmured inwardly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Then, completely unexpectedly for everyone present, Kael simply snatched the needle from Magpie's hand.

So quickly that she did not even realize what had happened.

The very next instant, he drew it back to strike.

Several of the soldiers watching the scene literally stopped breathing.

“Is he really going to inject himself—”

The sentence was never finished.

Because in Kael's other hand, a large piece of dried meat suddenly appeared, and with a sharp motion he drove the needle straight into it.

“No!”

Magpie practically jumped into the air.

“You ruined my needle and my elixir! Why would you do that?!”

There was so much genuine hurt in her voice that the surrounding soldiers involuntarily exchanged glances. It was as though Kael had just destroyed the greatest treasure of her life.

Her eyes even seemed to well up with tears. Then she lunged toward him, clearly intending to snatch the meat away along with the remaining elixir.

Kael, however, simply lifted one leg, preventing her from getting any closer, and from the outside it looked as though he was fending off an overly eager dog.

The jaws of everyone watching the scene practically dropped.

One of the soldiers even leaned forward involuntarily and muttered in astonishment, “This guy...”

His gaze shifted to Kael's raised leg, which he was still using to keep Magpie at a distance.

“He's getting Magpie's uniform dirty... She's stronger than he is. Why is she letting him do that?”

Kael himself paid no attention whatsoever to the reactions around him.

Calmly pulling the needle out of the piece of dried meat, he carefully examined the liquid still clinging to its tip.

Then he did something that left even the most unflappable spectators completely speechless.

Kael lightly sniffed the contents of the needle, then immediately licked the very tip.

Even Magpie froze.

Still unable to reclaim her precious needle, she continued holding Kael's raised ankle with both hands and now stared at him in undisguised amazement.

“How is it?!” she exclaimed excitedly, her eyes sparkling once again.

Kael, meanwhile, remained silent for several seconds, as though carefully judging the taste, the scent, and the sensation lingering on his tongue.

But before even ten seconds had passed, he cast an irritated glance at the woman and declared with disdain, “I've only just arrived, and Senior is already trying to poison me? This is poison!”

“Technically, yes...” Magpie admitted without the slightest embarrassment.

Then she smiled innocently.

“But it all depends on the dosage. If the poison is weak and the dosage is right, it'll only do you good!”

At that explanation, Kael gently pushed her away, freeing his leg, and said, “What's the point of that when you could just make a proper potion in the first place?”

Magpie immediately pouted again and replied with wounded indignation, “But I'm not an alchemist. I specialize in poisons...”

“Then why the hell are you trying to make medicine?!” Kael barked.

Such a blunt response made the onlookers flinch. It seemed they hadn't even known it was possible to speak to Magpie that way.

By then, Lipa's wagon had already drawn close enough to the gate.

Watching the scene unfold, the young woman merely smiled nervously, while Sindri, sitting behind her, visibly shrank into himself and muttered in resignation, “We were wrong...”

He looked first at Magpie, then at Kael, before letting out a heavy sigh.

“This Kael's a weirdo too...”

In response to Kael's question, Magpie only pouted even more.

“I just want to help! Our squad only has one healer, and our alchemist only brews elixirs for his own combat style. He refuses to make healing ones!”

Hearing that, Kael couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

“How the hell did this squad ever become elite if it's full of nothing but lunatics?” he muttered inwardly.

Just then, a calm, remarkably friendly male voice suddenly came from the side.

“Magpie, what are you doing here?”

The voice was so calm that it stood in stark contrast to the chaos surrounding it.

Everyone immediately turned toward the speaker.

But that did nothing to put anyone at ease. If anything, the expressions on the faces of the onlookers became even more strained.

A young man who looked to be around twenty-five was slowly approaching them.

His bright orange hair was neatly combed back, and a pair of glasses with large round frames and darkened lenses rested on the bridge of his nose. A friendly smile played across his face, and he radiated such a pleasant, tranquil aura that, against the surrounding chaos, it seemed almost unnatural.

Magpie immediately perked up.

“Hector, did you come to greet the newcomer too?”

The young man merely let out a weary sigh before replying, “Actually, Morkroft assigned that job to me, not you.”

Then he calmly stepped around Magpie and walked straight toward Kael.

Stopping in front of him, he extended a hand in greeting and, with the same friendly smile that prominently displayed his fangs, said, “Sorry about that. She's a little eccentric.”

Kael merely gave a crooked smile and, shaking the offered hand, replied, “I've already noticed.”

Outwardly, he appeared completely calm, but the conversation he'd recently had with Lipa and her people immediately resurfaced in his mind.

“She called him Hector...” Kael noted inwardly. “Is this the same Hector who looks kind but sent some poor guy straight into the hottest part of the battlefield?”

After everything he had heard, such a friendly appearance no longer inspired any trust.

Hector, however, seemed completely oblivious to the wariness around him. Glancing briefly toward Magpie, he added with the same smile, “We haven't had any new recruits assigned to us in a very long time. So we're all quite intrigued.”

Kael gave no sign that those words had put him on guard.

He simply introduced himself calmly.

“My name is Kael. I'll be glad to be part of the Doomgrin Squad.”

To that, Hector unexpectedly gave their clasped hands a friendly shake and replied good-naturedly, “Our work isn't easy. But if they assigned you to us, then you'll definitely be able to handle it.”

With those words, Hector finally released Kael's hand and, turning around, calmly headed toward the gate.

“Follow me, Kael. I'll introduce you to the squad.”

Magpie immediately fell into step beside him, as though she had no intention whatsoever of leaving the newcomer alone.

As they walked, Hector looked back over his shoulder and added,

“Some of our people are out on a mission right now. But don't worry, you'll meet everyone in time.”

Then he unexpectedly chuckled quietly before adding oddly, “And don't hold it against Lumi...”

That remark made Kael frown slightly.

“I don't even know who that is. How could I be upset with her?”

This time, for some reason, Hector laughed even harder.

“Don't worry about it...”

That answer only made Kael even more wary.

“Yeah...” he muttered inwardly as he followed after the pair. “This is going to be one hell of a posting...”

Behind them, the guards, the onlookers, and the soldiers waiting to have their papers checked remained where they stood.

For a while, they silently watched the trio depart.

Even Lipa and her people had already passed through the gate, yet they too couldn't help looking back at the retreating figures.

Then one of the onlookers let out a heavy sigh.

“The Doomgrin Squad just got a new member...”

“Poor guy,” another muttered.

“Or maybe not,” a third replied thoughtfully, recalling Kael's exchange with Magpie.

Then several people simultaneously turned their eyes toward the corner of the building where Hector, Magpie, and the new recruit had disappeared from view.

And, for some reason, almost all of them were left with the same feeling.

As though the Doomgrin Squad was about to become even louder, even more chaotic, and even richer in strange stories.