IRON MAN: BROTHER DON'T CAUSE TROUBLE

The next morning, John woke up and went downstairs. To his surprise, Touya, Alsie, and Lindsey were already having their meal.

John joined them at the table, and Mika soon brought him his breakfast as well. After finishing their meal, the group set off for the guild to register. The guild was located near the center of town and was bustling with a fair number of people.

The registration process was surprisingly simple and didn't take long to complete. During this time, John activated his Eye of Truth ability to observe the counter girl using some sort of enchantment. Curious, he managed to obtain a unique rune from it. This was just the beginning of his true purpose in this world.

After completing their registration, they took on a simple task. John didn't mind that the task was easy — after all, he wasn't here to fight monsters.

Once outside, Touya went off to buy a weapon, so they decided to split up. John also had something to buy — a book and a pen — to record the runes he had discovered. He knew it was impossible to memorize every rune he'd encounter on his journey.

After regrouping, they headed directly to the forest, which was about 2 kilometers away from the town. Because of Alsie, Lindsey, and Touya's slower pace, John ended up walking for nearly two hours to get there. Fortunately, with his current physical strength, this wasn't much of a challenge.

During their encounter with wolves in the forest, John didn't participate. The trio handled the wolves with ease, and John didn't gain much from Lindsey's magic since it was just basic fire and water spells.

"Attacks of this level wouldn't even reach a 50-meter radius around me," John thought, deciding to ignore it.

However, something interesting caught his attention when Lindsey performed her magic. From what he observed, people in this world didn't cultivate inner mana. Instead, they used incantations to draw mana from their surroundings.

'This works well as long as mana is abundant,' John thought. 'But if someone enters a mana-depleted zone... they're finished.'

It didn't mean that mages here didn't have any internal mana — they did, but the amount was minuscule, absorbed passively by the body.

From what John could recall, this world had a total of six elements, along with a special one known as Null Magic.

Except for the Light element, John was confident he could use all the other elements. As for Null Magic, he wasn't so sure. He had attempted to copy Alsie's Boost Null Magic ability but failed. He figured that he didn't possess that particular type of magic.

'Doesn't matter,'John thought. 'I've got the rune, and that's all I wanted.'

*****

Back in Rifuretto, the group submitted their completed task and received 18 copper coins as a reward. John took only 3 copper coins for himself and let the others have the rest.

As they left the guild, Touya couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.

"John, you seem... different from the others I've met so far," Touya said.

Surprised, John looked at Touya, noticing that Alsie and Lindsey were also paying attention.

"How so?" John asked with mild interest.

"Well, I've never seen you show interest in anything other than magic. Whenever someone uses magic in front of you, you always pay extra attention. Can I ask why?"

John raised an eyebrow.

'What a keen perception,' John thought.

He glanced at the group, especially Alsie, who seemed particularly interested in this topic. Still, he didn't think too much about it.

"Well," John began, "as you know, I enjoy visiting different places. But that's not just because I like to travel — it's because I love learning about different kinds of magic. Take Alsie's Boost Null Magic, for example. In my country, there's no such thing as Null Magic, yet here it's common. My goal is to collect knowledge about different kinds of magic spells."

John finished with a smile.

Hearing that, everyone seemed to understand.

"No wonder..." Touya muttered.

"So... you'll leave me— I mean, our group — one day, right?" Alsie suddenly asked.

"Huh?" John was taken aback by the question but answered honestly. "Truthfully... I don't know when I'll leave. So, I hope you guys don't mind me staying with you until then."

Alsie just nodded quietly and walked ahead of the group. Lindsey, on the other hand, watched her sister closely. She had a good idea why Alsie was acting this way but decided to let her be for now.

Later that day, the group stopped by a café to celebrate their first completed task. They ordered desserts and juice, enjoying themselves until Touya suddenly turned serious.

"Guys... I have a request," Touya said.

"Huh?" Everyone looked at him curiously, but John had a feeling he knew what Touya wanted.

'Here comes my rune printing machine,' John chuckled inwardly.

"Go ahead," John said, maintaining a calm expression.

"Ah... Can you guys please teach me how to read and write? Also... I'd like to learn magic. I'm kind of interested in it," Touya said without hesitation.

"Of course! Why not?" John replied, then turned to Alsie, only to see that she was still lost in thought. He then shifted his gaze to Lindsey.

"What do you think, Lindsey? You can teach him how to read and write, and I can introduce him to magic."

"A-Ah... I... I don't know much about it," Lindsey stammered, blushing slightly. "But if Touya wants, I'll be happy to help him."

'Did she just blush... from that?' John thought in amusement. 'Sigh... the protagonist aura is starting to show itself.'

"Alright, it's decided then. Let's begin!" John said enthusiastically.

But before starting, he suddenly remembered something and turned to Lindsey once more.

"Lindsey, do you happen to have any elemental stones with you?" John asked, knowing full well that she did — but he couldn't just ask directly without a reason.

Lindsey nodded and brought out seven stones, each glowing with a different color, from her pouch.

"Alright... let's get started," John said with a smile.