"Right. It’s just a matter of grinding them ahead of time, but someone must have been negligent with their duties."

Ahwin answered casually. From his perspective, it wasn’t his problem anyway.

“So you’re saying this whole mess happened because some bureaucrat at the Magic Bureau got lazy?”

Penelope briefly gazed up at the sky in silence, mentally hoping that whoever was responsible wouldn’t face too severe a reprimand. Though, that seemed unlikely…

"But why is the Court Mage here?" she asked.

"Oh, that. The Court Mage must have been walking nearby when he noticed something odd with the magic lamps and rushed over. It’s quite a big deal when all the lamps in an area go out at once. He’d probably handle it faster than anyone else."

In short, the Magic Bureau’s chief had shown up purely by coincidence.

There was more to it, though.

Ahwin, with his sharp senses, could tell at a glance that the mana in the magic stones had run out. Regular mages wouldn’t notice as quickly. They’d have to inspect the magic circuits and every lamp component before realizing that the mana depletion was the cause. The Court Mage’s frantic reaction made perfect sense.

Glancing around outside, Penelope asked cautiously, “Do you think it’ll take long to fix?”

“Probably not.”

“Good. Let’s take this alley and slip out, then.”

Instead of answering her directly, Ahwin asked, “Are you sure you don’t need me to help? If I stepped in, it’d take less than ten minutes.”@@novelbin@@

To be precise, it would only take him a single minute. Recharging the depleted magic stones was as easy as breathing for Ahwin.

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