Inside the temporary prison built specifically for Magrido.

  SPLASH!

  A basin of icy water was dumped over the mage’s head, jolting him awake.

  Magrido groggily opened his eyes, his vision blurry. Slowly, he made out the figures of Rhine and Aurora standing before him.

  He blinked, regaining consciousness, only to realize that the magic ring from his index finger had been taken—now resting on Rhine’s finger.

  The moment he saw them, Magrido began trembling.

  Rhine’s sheer power and presence had far exceeded anything he had imagined.

  The once-proud chief mage of the Germanic Empire now begged desperately.

  “Please… Let me go! I beg you, let me go!”

  “I shouldn’t have worked with the Eastern Witch! I shouldn’t have plotted against you or the Queen of White Kingdom! It was her who maniputed me! She promised that if I helped her, she would aid me in overthrowing Oz!”

  “I swear, I won’t oppose you anymore! I won’t target Oz either! I’ll leave the Land of Oz and never reenter this green nd!”

  “It was the Emperor of the Germanic Empire—his ambition was too great! He wanted to conquer the Oasis Kingdom in the desert, to control the strategic link between East and West! That’s why he forced me to seize Oz’s throne! I was just a pawn, a powerless pawn!”

  “I know I was wrong! Truly, I do!”

  “No, you don’t,” Rhine said, shaking his head. Then, in words from a past life, he calmly replied,

  “You only know… that you’re about to die.”

  Magrido’s pupils contracted, panic fshing in his eyes.

  Suddenly, as if grasping at one st lifeline, he blurted out,

  “Wait! You must have wishes of your own, right? You must!”

  “I know the location of a magic mp that can grant wishes! According to ancient records, it’s hidden in an underground vault near the Land of Oz! I was searching for its exact location!”

  “If you spare me, I can take you to it immediately!”

  He turned his pleading gaze to the Rhine, voice growing more urgent.

  “Great Mage Rhine, you are already one of the most legendary mages in existence. But if you obtain that magic mp, your power will grow beyond imagination! No one on this continent will ever be your equal again. You could become the ruler of the world!”

  A magic mp?

  Hearing that familiar term, Rhine raised an eyebrow.

  Noticing his reaction, Magrido’s eyes lit up with hope. He had found his chance.

  “If you let me go, I’ll lead you straight to the mp!” he promised eagerly.

  But Rhine only shrugged.

  “Sorry, I’m not interested.”

  “Besides, you’ve already told me about the mp’s existence and its general location. As a master diviner, I can find it myself.”

  Magrido’s face went pale as he realized his mistake. His st chance had slipped away.

  Terror gripped him. His body trembled so violently that he nearly wet himself.

  “No! No, even if you find the vault, it’s useless!” he cried.

  “The vault is guarded by the most terrifying curse! Even the most powerful mage cannot enter without a specific method!”

  “I read in ancient texts that there is only one way to open the vault! You must travel east and find a certain person!”

  “I burned that ancient text after memorizing it! If you kill me now, you will never know how to open the vault!”

  Rhine remained unfazed. He spoke in a ft, knowing tone.

  “You need to find a boy named Addin—the son of a tailor named Mustafa. Only when Addin speaks his name and his father’s name will the vault doors open. Correct?”

  His voice was calm as if he were simply stating an obvious fact.

  Magrido’s eyes widened in horror. His voice trembled.

  “H-how do you know that?”

  His face twisted in disbelief.

  “No… That’s impossible! I was the only one who knew… How do you know?”

  So it is true…

  Rhine sighed softly, then asked,

  “And once you found the vault, you pnned to disguise yourself as Addin’s uncle to deceive him into opening it for you. Didn’t you?”

  Magrido’s voice shook violently.

  “T-that was… one of my ideas…”

  So that’s who you are.

  Rhine finally understood.

  Magrido was the deceitful magician from Addin and the Magic Lamp—the one who tricked Addin into opening the cave for him.

  In the original tale, the magician was said to be from Africa, while Addin himself was Chinese, symbolizing the farthest West and East.

  However, the entire story had been thoroughly Arabized, with no real Chinese or African elements.

  These so-called birthpces were just a romanticized touch—no different from the “far, far away” settings of most fairy tales.

  So, in this world, Magrido’s homend had instead become one of the Middle Eastern kingdoms.

  Rhine gazed down at the sniveling, trembling Magrido and asked ftly,

  “As far as I know, the Bck Witch Maleficent is currently in the Land of Oz. Do you know her exact whereabouts? Have you seen her recently?”

  This was the only reason he had kept Magrido alive—this one final question.

  Since Magrido had once worked with the Witches’ Circle, there was always a chance he would do so again.

  But Magrido shook his head furiously, sobbing.

  “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

  Rhine sighed in mild disappointment.

  “Thank you for your answer.”

  “Goodbye.”

  The next moment, Magrido’s colr tightened around his throat.

  “N–No…!”

  His eyes bulged in terror. He stared at Rhine, unable to even let out a final scream.

  Then—his body went limp.

  Magrido was dead.

  With a calm expression, Rhine thought to himself,

  Magrido is dead. Once things are settled here, I’ll head east to find Addin and cim the magic mp.

  I can’t pce all my hopes of returning home on the Witches’ Circle’s leader.

  Aurora let out a long breath, a hint of joy and relief on her face.

  “The wicked Eastern Witch is dead. The treacherous mage Magrido is dead.”

  “Now, our st task in this nd is to find the Bck Witch Maleficent.”

  “It won’t be long before the curse on Rose Kingdom is lifted!”

  But Rhine did not share her optimism.

  A shadow flickered in his eyes.

  “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  As a legendary prophet, his premonitions were more than just feelings—they were reflections of reality.

  “I have a strong sense that Maleficent will strike first… before we can make our move.”

  Aurora, however, remained confident.

  “No need to worry, Teacher. Even if Maleficent has fully recovered, she’s still no match for us.

  “Besides, we already made backup pns. We’ve even enlisted—”

  RUMBLE.

  Before she could finish her sentence, the ground trembled beneath them.

  It felt as if the entire world had just shuddered.

  “What was that? An earthquake?”

  Aurora frowned and quickly ascended the staircase, with Rhine following close behind.

  They emerged outside—where Emerald City’s pace should have been.

  Aurora’s eyes widened in shock.

  Everything had changed.

  The pace, the markets, the streets, the gardens—everything was gone.

  All that remained was an open wilderness and towering mountains.

  At the heart of the green ndscape was an enormous ke.

  And within the ke, countless fish of four distinct colors swam frantically, bubbling to the surface.

  On the shore stood a small, panicked figure—Oz.

  Upon spotting them, he ran toward them, his face filled with anxiety.

  “My gods! I have no idea what’s happened to this nd!”

  “I only closed my eyes for a moment… and when I woke up, I found myself in this empty wilderness—just like how it was before Emerald City was even built! And now there’s this massive ke full of fish with four different colors!”

  Four-colored fish…?

  A thought struck the Rhine.

  He rushed to the keside and peered into the water.

  The fish—all of them—immediately swam toward him, their eyes filled with desperate pleading.

  As if they were silently begging him:

  Help us!

  So it was them.

  Rhine took out his crystal ball and began divining.

  “Show me… what happened here?

  “How did these fish come to be?”

  Now a true legendary mage, his divinations were nearly as powerful as a magic mirror.

  He just needed the right medium.