My Uncle is the Strongest Dark Mage

Chapter 23

Elemental Art Hall Center Grand Theater.

This place, the largest indoor performance venue in the capital Raymond, was bustling with numerous people wandering around the entrance despite it being the weekend.

The proportion of young people was high, and the ratio of men to women was about even.

People seemed to be moving around in groups, either as lovers or friends.

Their faces were all lit up with smiles filled with anticipation.

'Why am I here?'

Except for one person, Cain, who was being dragged along by Arina, stumbling reluctantly.

His usual attire included thick horn-rimmed glasses and a white short-sleeve T-shirt with a stretched neck.

Appearing in wrinkled black sweatpants and dragging one slipper, which he likely slept in the night before, his appearance was that of a typical unemployed person.

Cain's outfit starkly contrasted with Arina, who walked confidently ahead holding his hand, and even without comparing to Arina, his clothes were strikingly different from the stylishly dressed young men and women around them.

Was it because of that?

He could feel the people around him stealing glances at him.

"Yawn."

At first, their eyes were drawn to his unusual attire.

Then, women blushed and turned away after seeing his face, which was casually yawning.

In response, the men next to them kept sending hostile glances towards Cain.

But Cain, seemingly uninterested in all of this, looked down at Arina with an annoyed expression.

"Why did we come out so early? The concert doesn't start until 6:30."

The current time was just past 3:15 PM.

Even if entry was possible from around 5 PM, it was still very early.

"I couldn't charge my smartphone because of you, and we just left."

"How is that my fault?"

Arina turned around with a look of disbelief at his grumbling.

"It's because Uncle fell asleep in the study last night and forgot to charge it."

"Who's the one that woke up a sleeping person and dragged them out of the house?"

Cain, still dressed in the style of an unemployed person.

It was because he was dragged out without properly preparing after waking up.

Before he could fully come to his senses, he was dragged to a nearby ramen shop in a half-asleep state, ate ramen and dumplings, and found himself in front of the Elemental Art Hall Center's main gate.

From Cain's perspective, being dragged along by Arina, the situation was nothing but absurd.

"It's fine. I had already anticipated that Uncle would forget our promise and read books until late at night."

"......."

"I enjoy spending time with Uncle, and I don't really care what you wear."

"......."

Well, I don't really care what I wear when I'm out with you either.

But why is the conversation turning into you making concessions for me?

Is this a signal for me to praise your patience?

Her ability to completely ignore his complaints and steer the conversation elsewhere was almost genius.

Cain thought about protesting that his complaints weren't about that, but soon let out a defeated sigh.

In the past, he would have shaken off the hand of the little girl pulling him.

For some reason, he couldn't do that now.

Because he knew that if he did, the little girl in front of him would start to tear up.

'So why did we come so early?'

Is she planning to sit in a café and wait until it's time?

If we're going to kill time like that, wouldn't it have been better to just leave the house later?

At least we could have charged the smartphone.

'I can't even go online.'

This is the worst.

A café without a smartphone.

Does it mean we'll just sit there sipping drinks and staring into space?

Just the thought of it made Cain's frown deepen behind his thick glasses, anticipating the boring waste of time.

"I told Maril that I like Laila Ruby, and she arranged for me to meet her."

F fortunately, it seemed Cain's worst-case scenario was off the mark.

As they passed through the crowd and Arina pulled him inside the building, answering his question, Cain nodded quietly.

'Come to think of it, didn't she say she was from the royal family?'

It seemed she had used her influence to help her friend.

And because of her affection for her friend, they had to leave the house unnecessarily early.

If the royal family member appeared in front of him, he felt an urge to give them a knuckle sandwich.

"They said if we come before the rehearsal, we can meet her."

"Is that so."

Was it because he could actually meet and talk with Laila Ruby, the diva of this era?

Arina's face was rarely filled with excitement.

She was so excited that Cain could feel her heartbeat through her sensitive touch, transmitted to his fingertips.

"Hello? How can I help you?"

They finally reached the information desk.

Arina let go of Cain's hand and bowed slightly.

"Yes, hello."

Then, she pulled out her smartphone from her bag and showed the text message Maril had sent her in advance.

"They told me to show this."

Arina handed over the smartphone hesitantly, with a lack of confidence in her voice.

The clerk, who had been momentarily puzzled by her demeanor, let out a small exclamation after reading the message.

"Yes, could you please wait a moment? I'll check right away."

Then, the clerk picked up the business phone and made a call somewhere.

After a conversation in a barely audible voice with someone, the clerk hung up with a smile and spoke to Arina.

"Could you wait a little longer? Someone will be down shortly."

"Yes, I understand. Thank you."

Arina bowed politely and thanked her.

"......."

Unlike Arina, who was humming without realizing it, Cain looked up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

The high ceiling, with its red background and gold threads, exuded grandeur and splendor.

At its peak was an elaborately decorated light fixture in the form of a painting.

It was such a beautiful backdrop that he would have taken a photo right away if he had his smartphone.

In fact, many people inside the building were taking pictures of the ceiling and the interior.

However, Cain's attention was not on such visually focused designs.

Beyond that, to the upper floor of the ceiling.

For some reason, ever since entering the building, his attention was involuntarily drawn to the remnants of magic power.

Regardless of whether there were magicians or martial artists present, it felt as if a battle had taken place, with residual magic scattered in the air.

'Why here of all places?'

Should I check it out for a moment?

Though the curiosity surged momentarily, it quickly subsided.

Contrary to the clerk's words that someone would come down, a man was running towards them from the entrance of the building, not from the elevator or stairs.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

The man, who seemed to have run quite a distance, was sweating and panting.

From the bag in his hand, it looked like he had gone to a nearby convenience store; it contained beverages and some snacks.

"I'm Kyon, Laila Ruby's manager."

While the clerk from earlier was one thing, Kyon, who introduced himself, looked like a gentle bear and seemed to have a good personality.

He looked directly into the eyes of the child, Arina, and greeted her with respect.

"Hello, I'm Arina."

Arina also bowed slightly with a tense expression and greeted him.

Seeing this, Kyon smiled warmly at Arina and then turned his gaze to Cain.

"This is my uncle."

His face was full of discontent, wearing a brusque expression.

Sensing that the greetings wouldn't go smoothly, Arina preemptively introduced him to Kyon.

"...Cain."

Then, Cain averted his gaze from Kyon and fixed his eyes on the ceiling again.

His attitude was extremely rude from the very first meeting.

Arina, feeling nervous, pinched her uncle's hand and cautiously watched Kyon's reaction.

"Then, Mr. Cain, Ms. Arina, please follow me."

But he only awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

Without any sign of anger, Kyon simply led them somewhere.

The place he headed to was in front of the elevator that led directly to the dressing room.

Showing his ID card to the bodyguards, he spoke to the two people trailing behind him.

"I heard from Laila that guests were coming, so I informed the information desk in advance. If anyone comes looking for me, they were to call me."

But they arrived right when I happened to be out on an errand.

And it's not like I could ask the private bodyguards to welcome the guests.

"Still, it was fortunate that we arrived just in time. We almost had a big problem."

Kyon burst into a hearty laugh and took back the ID card from the bodyguard.

And as he stepped into the open elevator.

"I sent a text to Laila on the way here. I actually called, but she didn't answer, probably because she was resting."

But just in case, I'll go inside for a moment to check first.

Kyon, smiling, politely asked for understanding from the two.

"Yes, it's fine. I'm the one who's worried about taking up time that should be used for concert preparations."

"It should be fine. It's common to meet close contacts before a concert. And she's not the type to dislike meeting fans who like her."

On the contrary, with Laila's personality, she would be happy to meet this little girl and gain strength to perform the concert diligently.

Knock knock.

Thus, Kyon stepped out of the elevator, passed through the bodyguards, and knocked on the door of Laila Ruby's dressing room.

"Sister. I'm here. Please open the door."

Sister?

Though Laila Ruby looked much younger.

Arina tilted her head in confusion at the strange discrepancy.

Meanwhile, Cain only slightly moved his eyes to lightly scan the surroundings.

While it wasn't a fortress, the security was quite tight.

This indicated how important the agency considered the singer Laila Ruby to be.

But even in this situation, the strange sensation he felt earlier hadn't disappeared at all.

No, to be precise, it had grown stronger.

The residual mana that flowed out when someone used magic.

From inside the dressing room of the singer Laila Ruby, where Kyon was knocking.

'Was she a magician?'

But he had never heard that Laila Ruby was a magician.

Well, if it hadn't been for Arina, he wouldn't have known of her existence at all, so it wasn't strange that Cain didn't know Laila Ruby was a magician.

"Sister, are you asleep? I'm coming in."

Saying so, Kyon turned the doorknob.

And slowly opened the door, making sure Arina and Cain couldn't see inside, and peeked his head in.

"Sister?"

Then, Kyon carefully called out to Laila Ruby.

But soon his face turned pale as he threw open the dressing room door.

"Sister!"

Finally, the interior came into view for the two.

Chairs and consumables were scattered messily as if swept by a storm.

The mirror hanging on the wall had fallen to the floor and shattered into pieces, and the curtains were torn to shreds and hanging loose.

The wind blowing in through the wide-open window.

Smelling the lingering scent of mana carried by the wind, Cain adjusted his glasses.

'Pretty high level.'

Traces of various magics were visible.

There were traces of Soundproofing Magic and Mana Release.

At Cain's level, he could roughly estimate the opponent's skill just from the traces.

A magician at least at the 4th rank, possibly reaching the early 5th rank.

Unlike the black mage who rampaged at the Grant Department Store after acquiring his magic, this was a magician with real skill.

Laila Ruby had been kidnapped by that being.

Behind Kyon, who was pale and at a loss, Cain's face, which had been full of boredom, showed interest for the first time.