novelraw Chapter 126 : Their Provocation (1)
Chapter 126 : Their Provocation (1)
Chapter 126: Their Provocation (1)
Garent came out to the entrance of the Swordsman’s District in response to an unexpected situation.
He had received command authority over the Royal Guard from the Grand Swordsman and was in the middle of mobilizing the entire Royal Guard to monitor the Swordsman’s District.
It was then that he received a report from the Royal Guard and headed out into the street.
Garent and the Royal Guardsmen with him were in a highly tense state as they looked at the enormous vortex rising from the Mage’s District.
“Garent-nim…… the Mage’s District has been noisy lately.”
Not long ago, there had even been a time when two black spheres and one blue sphere were floating in the sky.
That was without a doubt a mage’s magic.
Who it was was unknown, but it meant that a battle between mages had taken place.
Whenever a battle broke out in the Mage’s District, the Swordsman’s District grew taut with tension and strengthened its vigilance even further.
Especially Garent—being a swordsman who knew the plans of the current Archmage, Draco Tyrant—could be said to be the most tense of them all.
Once he seized control of the Magical Society, Tyrant would clearly set his sights on the Swordsman Society as well.
And with mage battles occurring frequently during the time when such a man stood as Archmage, there was no other conclusion to draw than that his plans were nearing completion.
“Wow, Mom! Look at that! That vortex is really cool!”
At that moment, a small child passing along the road shouted after seeing the mage’s magic visible in the distance.
The child looked to be no more than about five years old.
Right now, the child was simply thinking of the first such sight in their life as nothing more than a rare spectacle.
“……Let’s go, quickly.”
In contrast, the child’s mother wore the expression of someone who had seen something she should not have and hurriedly tried to turn the child’s eyes away.
Perhaps regretting that they could not keep watching, the child kept habitually casting glances toward the vortex the entire way home.
Watching that scene, Garent could not help but be filled with many thoughts.
‘The place where the most innocent children like that gather is right here, in the Underworld.’
They would gradually grow up and might become swordsmen, or they might become mages.
If they belonged to neither, they would continue their lives as ordinary commoners.
Because they carried so many possibilities, they were indispensable talents for the future.
Whether mage, swordsman, or commoner, the adults who currently formed the backbone of society were people who would naturally fade from society with time, like flowers withering.
The ones who filled those empty spaces were those very children.
For that to happen, the Underworld had to remain whole.
Would Tyrant, who would even set his sights on the Swordsman Society, really leave the Underworld alone?
He was already someone who had broken even the rules set since ancient times and divided the Underworld into the Swordsman’s District and the Mage’s District.
Human greed had no end—once one thing was obtained, it wanted two; once it had two, it wanted three; before long, it coveted everything.
Garent, who knew Tyrant especially well, did not believe that he would ever leave the Underworld alone.
One had to hope for things worth hoping for.
And so Garent steeled his resolve to somehow pass down not only the Swordsman Society but this Underworld itself intact to future generations.
At the very least, the Underworld had been a place where two different forces lived in harmony without major issues, even amid coldness and desolation, and it was only Tyrant’s appearance that had twisted everything.
And he wanted to pass down a complete world to innocent futures like that child.
Not an anxious world like now, where one never knew when fighting would break out, but a peaceful and complete world.
Garent looked at the vortex soaring into the sky and took out a single sheet of paper from his chest.
It was the cloud drawing that Quilte had drawn for him.
“‘The sky is white…… the sky does not disappear. It always exists and is above us…….’”
He chewed over the words Quilte had left behind at the time.
‘Could this prophecy…… be related to that?’
Closing his mouth tightly, Garent continued to stare at the distant vortex, still clutching Quilte’s drawing in his hand.
Near the vortex, several streams of fire burst upward, only to vanish quickly.
That phenomenon repeated several times, and then a red sphere rose into the sky.
‘That too…… is it the same type as the black spheres I saw last time?’
But the red sphere also disappeared before long, and soon even the vortex itself vanished.
It was a battle whose victor could never be known.
“Oh my, you do amuse me a little? Yes, after 300 years, there ought to be some progress in the Ed Family. Don’t you think so, Kabir?”
“Indeed, it’s a remarkable development. Though it still falls far short compared to my family.”
The garden of the Emmet Family’s Main Residence.
Lamik Livia and Mirne Kabir stood there with relaxed, confident expressions.
However, the state of the garden around them was so miserable it defied description.
All the decorations were shattered, and part of the Emmet Family’s main building had been blown away entirely.
In the garden, four Emmet Family mages lay collapsed, and only a single mage stood facing the two of them.
Ed Nylon.
He was the only Emmet Family mage still standing.
Even so, he looked so unstable that he might collapse at any moment.
One shoulder drooped limply toward the ground, and one eye was closed.
Nylon looked over his fallen siblings.
Ever, Cullem, Sparkle, Balak.
All of them looked as though their breathing had stopped entirely.
Even if there was still breath left in them, without immediate treatment they were lives that would fade away as they were.
‘Somehow…….’
Livia and Kabir had launched a sudden assault on the family.
Nylon realized one thing with absolute clarity.
That he had to abandon the naïve thought that he could survive against these two.
And he had also devised a perfect plan.
He would save his fallen siblings and sacrifice himself.
Rather than all five of them dying, sacrificing just himself to save the rest was a far more rational choice.
Nylon tried to pour in all of his remaining potions.
He knew that if he drank all of this Magic Amplification Potion, his body would break down and be annihilated, but now was not the time to worry about such things.
“Looks like you’re trying to pull some other trick again. Fine, go on, try it.”
Livia even ignored his actions and gave him time to drink the potion.
‘……Family Head, I entrust the rest to you. I’m sorry for going ahead first.’
The moment Nylon opened the lid.
“Put that potion back, Nylon. If you drink all of that, the reason I came all this way will disappear.”
At that moment, a voice rang out in the garden.
Moreover, it was a voice that should not have been heard here.
‘No way…….’
“Oh my, and who might this be? Emmet Vise has shown himself after 250 years?”
Livia was the first to react.
Emmet Vise appeared proudly in the family garden.
And not in the form of the old man who ran an Underworld tavern, but in his original appearance…….
“Well now, Family Heads. You’re playing rather childishly with kids.”
Vise faced the two of them with a voice utterly devoid of tension.
And right after that.
He drew something with his finger, and the bodies of Nylon and his four fallen siblings began to glow brightly.
Then, as if being divided into puzzle pieces, their bodies split apart piece by piece and slowly began to disappear.
“Flewd teleportation magic, I see. Vise, did you really come all this way just to save these brats?”
This time, Kabir asked.
“As expected of Lord Arkis’s disciples. You may not be able to use Flewd magic yourselves, but you do understand it accurately.”
Only then did Nylon understand the meaning of what Vise had said earlier.
That remark about the reason disappearing if he drank the potion after coming all this way.
It meant he had come to save them, so Nylon should not hasten his own death by drinking the potion.
“That name…… you’d better not say it in front of us.”
Livia warned Vise, her expression hardening.
“Well, is there any reason for me to watch the family heads’ moods?”
Vise still looked completely at ease.
And then, as the fallen mages who had received Vise’s teleportation vanished one by one until only Nylon remained—
“Get some rest, Nylon.”
“Vise-nim…….”
Upon hearing Vise’s words, Nylon turned to look at him in a state close to death, then soon vanished completely.
By now, they would have been fully transported to the tavern basement.
Looking at Vise, now finally alone, Livia asked mockingly.
“A mere 6th Circle like you came alone to stop the two of us?”
“Even if I’m Flewd, how could I possibly stop two people who are both 9th Circle? I just came to buy some time.”
“Time?”
“Yes. Ah, right. This is the first time we’ve actually faced each other like this as enemies, isn’t it?”
It was a question with an unclear meaning.
“In that case, now that we’re officially perfect enemies…… there’s no need to bother with politeness anymore. The honorifics I’ve used toward the two families until now were part of that, after all.”
In Magical Society, a mage’s Circle strictly determined rank.
Even though they were all family heads, Vise had long used honorifics toward the single-family elemental heads because he lagged behind as a 6th Circle.
The gap between 6th Circle and 9th Circle was something that could not be narrowed.
But wasn’t this no longer an era where that was necessary?
“I’m going all out. I plan to survive and run away, you see. Try stopping me if you can.”
With Vise’s provocation as the signal, a feast of magic unfolded once more in the garden.
“What is it? Why are you suddenly setting such a serious mood?”
Tresha and Alfric, who had heard my true identity from Etar.
The two of them stepped down from their chairs, knelt on one knee, and looked up at me.
I had not intended to create such a heavy atmosphere.
“If you really are Lord Arkis, then you should know what name I gave the Light Sealing Sword when I first made it…… right?”
Alfric asked.
Even though he already knew my identity, he needed undeniable proof tied to a definite memory, just like what Etar had done to me.
“You definitely called it Glory Light back then. I said it was childish and refused to accept it.”
It meant radiant light.
“……Ah, Lord Arkis! Where in the world have you been all this time!”
Alfric even bowed deeply.
“Th-then…… when I came to see you saying I’d mastered Orbification……?”
This time, it was Tresha’s question.
“You made it look convincing with Tap-Taking and lied about mastering it. I got angry and locked you inside my Earth Element Orbification for two days.”
“……Lord Arkis!”
Now even Tresha bowed deeply.
“Is that enough verification?”
“Of course! We’re sorry!”
“Then get up and let’s eat. I came today to have a meal together.”
Only then did the two of them get up and sit back down.
If there was one thing that had truly changed in the atmosphere, it was that they were now showing gentle, submissive attitudes.
Especially Alfric.
That displeased, wary look was completely gone, replaced with admiration and longing.
Still, his appearance continued to bother me.
“Alfric.”
“Yes! Lord Arkis!”
“Can’t you change that look? Why are you copying my appearance?”
“To honor my master, out of longing…….”
“It makes me uncomfortable to look at. Change it.”
“Yes!”
Alfric immediately manifested a Light Sealing Sword and boldly chopped off his long hair in one clean stroke.
Only then did he return to the Alfric I remembered.
And so, as we ate, we spent time talking about how I had been reincarnated and what my plans were going forward.
That was when a message arrived through Etar’s mob.
After checking its contents, Etar’s expression collapsed drastically.
Unfocused eyes, an unsteady gaze, and roughened breathing.
Something had clearly happened.
“What’s wrong, Etar?”